A Woven Web of Lies
by amberleaf4100
Summary: In a world where politics are shaky, trust and peace are scarce, there are people striving to become dogs of the military. Hunters for the kings. But achieving such a goal is not easy, and when Killua is sent to assassinate the King of Yorbian, he soon realizes that infiltration might be his only option. But when he makes genuine 'friends' on his mission, things become complicated.
1. A Mission to Die For

**A Woven Web of Lies**

_In a world where politics are shaky, trust and peace are scarce, there are people striving to become dogs of the military. Hunters for the kings. But achieving such a goal is not easy, and when Killua is sent to assassinate the King of Yorbian, he soon realizes that infiltration might be his only option. But when he makes genuine 'friends' on his mission... Well, things become complicated. HxH AU. Killua Centric. Killua x OC_

**So, this is my new NaNoWriMo project. Because High School AUs literally have no plot. This story is mainly Killua-centric, and he shall be paired with an OC, because as much as I love Killua and Gon, I just can't ship them together.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 - A Mission to Die For<strong>

Yorbian had never been the calmest place on earth. Especially politically wise. There had always been tyrants vying for power, crooked merchants waiting for a chance to swindle you, and thugs and bandits lurking around every corner. It was every man for themselves, and no one was willing to share.

There were many groups. From lords and merchants hoarding money and power, tyrants using the support of the majority, thugs and bandits who used brute forces, and the general populace itself… but the most feared out of them all was the mercenaries.

The had money, lots of it in fact. Assassinations and killings weren't cheap after all. They weren't lacking in raw power either, although they were few in numbers, a meagerly trained mercenary servant would be enough to wipe out quite a few band of thugs or bandits. There weren't many of them, but they had very much political sway, no one wanted mercenaries after them after all, especially not the lords.

The only thing that kept these groups together and away from each other's throats was the current king of the nation and his 'hunters'. They were in a completely different faction from regular soldiers, and were under direct orders from the king. Aside from the occasional orders, Hunters were usually free to do what they so wished, and only answered to the king and could not be punished by anyone except for the king. The job was coveted by many, and so the exams for it were ruthless and hundreds of applicants died every year…

Of course, this was a faulty system, but they managed to scrape by, if only barely. Yorbian was still a functioning nation, however flawed.

But when a new king rose to power… one that didn't blindly use the power of money and riches, and had his own power… power to crush everyone and everything...

To the lords, he was an unknown, a threat, and was to be disposed of immediately.

**~K~**

"Master Killua." A dark skinned girl called, bowing at the waist. "Master Silva wishes to see you in his office immediately. It is about your next mission."

"Alright." Killua replied simply, jumping up from his push-up position, not bothering to look at the girl. "Thank you for notifying me Canary." The girl merely dipped her head in acknowledgment, before leaving the room as silently as she came. Wiping off some sweat and packing some short-term mission gear, Killua walked out of the training dojo.

Stretching his arms, he flexed and unflexed his arm muscles a couple of times, rubbing his sore muscles as he walked at a nice brisk pace towards his father's 'study'. Yawning, he clasped his hands together behind his head, thinking about what the urgent mission could be. _A massacre of a clan?_ Killua mused, a feral grin spreading over his face, some of his bloodlust leaking into the air. _Accidental death of a political figure? Total destruction of a Lord's loved ones?_ Turning another corner, Killua came face to face with tall, intricate mahogany doors. Giving a few short raps on the door, Killua pushed, and the door creaked open. _Father needs to upgrade._ Killua mused. _Mahogany doors are getting too cliché._

The room was dark, lit up by only a few flickering blue lights, giving the atmosphere a cryptic touch. Killua strode easily past the large, lumbering greyhounds and doberman, and stood tall and erect in front of his father.

"You called?" Killua asked, allowing a bit of amusement to seep through his voice when it became apparent how swamped his father was with paperwork.

Sending a glare that would send many running with their tails between their legs, Silva sat up straight in his chair, moving a couple of paper documents aside and retrieving a few stapled documents and threw it at the boy. Lazily, the white-haired boy lifted a hand and caught the papers between two fingers.

"That's your mission." Silva said, shifting his main attention back to the mountains of papers on his desk. "You have been requested to assassinate the new king of Yorbian. Apparently he's made an enemy out of a lot of the king candidates, and all of them are pitching in together and giving up a significant amount of their fortune for us to kill him."

"They asked for me personally?" Killua asked, eyebrow raised. He would cockily admit that he was skilled at what he did, but for his reputation to spread that quickly?

"No." Silva deadpanned, looking up and locking eyes with his son. "This is a test to see if you are suitable to be heir to the Zoldyck mercenaries."

Killua's breath hitched for a split second, before he quickly hid his emotional slip up.

"Why not Illumi?" Killua asked, curious. "He is stronger than me, and is already of age."

"Why not indeed?" Silva asked clearly amused. Making a couple of neat strokes with ink at the bottom of a page before pushing that document off to the side. "That is a valid point. However, Illumi still does not have as much raw talent as you do." Killua swelled with pride, before sobering up and getting serious.

"Mission specifics, and chance of failure?"

Silva let out a sigh, as if he'd been expecting that question. Setting down the document in his hand, Silva locked both hands together in front of his face.

"Killua, I'll be frank and honest with you. This is not by any standards, even ours, an easy job." That foreboding tone sent tingles down Killua's back, and his eyes instantly narrowed. "The new king of Yorbian really is something, apparently, he not only has political power, money, but he also has raw power, skill, and brains to back it up. He's being smart too, he knows that there are many out for his head right now, and he's being very cautious as to who he sees. I expect this mission will take a few years."

"So I will be infiltrating the palace?" Killua asked, expressionless. "As a servant boy? A soldier?"

A sly grin spread across his father's face.

"Not quite. I expect this will be quite… entertaining for you." Silva grinned slightly. "You will become a hunter, and gain an important position close to the king. There are currently three members of the Royal Guard for this king, and their names are Neferpitou, Shaiapouf, and Menthuthuyoupi. With enough time and effort, you could replace one them and gain the King's trust."

Killua nodded jerkily, trying to quickly process this information in his head.

"I understand. When will I leave for my mission?"

"You will leave tomorrow, as to give you enough time to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. The Hunters Exam officially begins in 9 days. You will not have a codename this time, just drop your last name. So many nameless thugs and bandits take the test I doubt they will take much time to investigate into you. There will be a bank account under the name Leif Hiroshi available for your use. The pin is the same as usual. May you complete your mission swiftly. Do not die."

"I will succeed." Killua bowed, knowing that that was the closest thing to worry his father would ever show for him.

He would complete this mission, come hell or high waters. And if he lost his life in the process, so be it.

This was a mission worth dying for.

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><p><strong>Words in Chapter: 1271<strong>

**Words in Story: 1271**

**Percentage of NaNoWriMo Done: 2.542%**

**Days left: 24**


	2. Planning, Meetings, and Faked Emotions

**Quick warning before this starts - I introduced an OC in this chapter, but I didn't mention her name for a good 10 paragraphs or so… you'll be seeing a lot of 'she', 'her', and 'girl'.**

**And by the way, I didn't really want to name a store 'Anarchy Incorporated', but I asked my friend to make a name up… which was clearly a bad idea.**

**Eh, this chapter feels a bit forced, but when I finish NaNoWriMo I'll be sure to edit this. It's also quite boring, but please just bear with me.**

**Written yesterday, but I wanted to wait a while before I updated this again.**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 2 - Planning, Meetings, and Faked Emotions<strong>

After withdrawing a couple thousand jenny from his fake account 'Leif Hiroshi', Killua booked a hotel room, and plopped down on the bed and began examining the mission papers.

"_Assassination Target King Meruem Oshiro. Occupation; King of Yorbian. Hair color dark green. Eye color brown. Height 5'11_."

Running through a couple of potential ways he could gain the king's trust, he left the hotel as to distract himself from his boredom. _Should I set up a threat, and then 'save' the king from it? Would it be better if I made 'allies' and just gained his trust the old fashioned way?_

After a while, Killua decided the streets were loud and obnoxious. People littered the streets, pushing and shoving to get to the various stands, most clearly not noticing the amounts of bloodlust the mercenary was leaking out.

Killua let out a shaky breath. _Calm down._ He reminded himself._ Do not kill anyone before your mission begins. You need to keep a low profile._

Turning into a dark alley, Killua bunched up the leg muscles and lept up to the roof. Landing silently, he sat down on the edge, examining the city._ The palace is in that general direction, and Dolle Harbor is directly south of that… That is where most of the hunter candidates will be coming in. I should go there to gather information. Later today I'll go buy a map of the city._

Killua sighed, resting his head on his arm. 8 more days to go… Hopefully he wouldn't have collapsed of boredom by then.

**~A~**

A dusky orange haired girl groaned, halting in the middle of the road. A couple of people bumped into her, and glared at her, grumbling incoherently underneath their breaths. The girl ignored them, instead cursing loudly and slapping her hand to her forehead.

"Shit." She sighed. "I could've been smart and asked the boat captain where the Hunters Exam was located. Augh." Running a hand through her hair, her bright yellow eyes scanned the crowd. Seeing a store with various maps hanging in the display window, she grimaced, her money pouch seemingly getting lighter just thinking about it. She made no motion to reach toward it, knowing there were many thieves and bandits littering the streets looking for people to pickpocket.

Weaving through the crowd, she kept her movements efficient out of habit. Moving sideways just a millisecond before she would have had contact with another body. Seemingly flickering. Humming softly, she relaxed her guard and opened the door to a store called 'Anarchy Incorporated'.

Little did she know that by then, a white-haired mercenary had already seen her.

The door jingled as she slipped into the store. The room seemed ancient, vines growing out of the various cracks along the walls. Vintage items sat everywhere on the shelves, and an old man who seemed just as old as the walls themselves sat behind the counter. She wasn't the only one in there of course, but when the door jingled open again, her hackles rose. A dangerous presence had just entered the store.

Turning around cautiously, and keeping a straight face, she turned to look at the stranger. _White hair, blue eyes. Definitely a foreigner._ She jotted down mentally. _Male, around 5'8. Looks to be the same age as me._ Giving a small 'meek' looking smile, she turned back around, and carried the map she had been meaning to buy to the counter. Ignoring the various looks she got, the old man croaked out '300 jenny', and she stuck her hand into her jacket pocket and withdrew the right change in a flash, not wanting anyone to notice where she kept her money.

"Thank you for your purchase." The man said, handing the map back to her. The girl merely bowed her head, turning around and passed by the boy that had entered earlier. He held a similar map in his hand, and he smirked as she walked by briskly. Narrowing her eyes, she walked quickly out the door.

**~K~**

Killua was startled from his internal musings by a loud curse. Looking out into the crowd, his eyes instantly locked in on the female who had let out the offending shriek. Seeing a girl with ginger hair grumble under her breath, Killua's hearing sharpened, listening intently.

"...asked the boat captain where the Hunters Exam was located. Augh."

The mercenary's interests were immediately piqued. And a tiny smirk spread across his face. _Ohhh._ He drawled out in his mind. _This girl is here for the Hunters Exam as well? Interesting..._ He stared intently at the girl, lightning blue eyes boring into her. To her credit, she began scanning the area the moment she felt his eyes on her. But all in all, there wasn't anything that special about her…

Killua jumped down into the alley, cutting through the crowd to stay a couple of meters behind her. Oh well. Might as well see if she could be of any use.

As the girl began weaving through the crowd, Killua followed silently behind, his grin only getting wider as he watched her unintentionally flicker around, moving as quickly and as efficiently as possible without even realizing it. She had definitely been trained before, but for what purpose? A thief, a bandit, or maybe even an assassin?

She disappeared into a store named 'Anarchy Incorporated'. The mercenary loitered outside the door for a few seconds, knowing that if he entered immediately after her, it would've seemed very suspicious. Shifting his gaze to the display window, he caught site of a few maps of the city. _So she's here to get a map too…_ Killua thought, before shrugging his shoulders._ Might as well buy one as well while I'm at it._

Pulling open the door and hearing a bell jingle above him, Killua saw the girl's shoulders tense, as if sensing his presence before all tension disappeared as quickly as it had came. She turned around, and looked at him, as if she hadn't felt his foreboding aura, and smiled meekly at him, before walking to the cashier. Killua following after her, grabbing a map off the rack she was standing by.

As she passed him again, he gave her a small smirk, and in response she narrowed her eyes at him, before walking quickly out the door. As the cashier handed him his map, Killua turned around and followed, a grin set on his face. It won't be that easy to lose me...

Killua stepped outside, just in time to see a flash of orange hair turn the corner of a street. Smirking, he jumped onto a roof, and began tailing the girl. _This almost feels like a hunt._ Killua mused, jumping over an alley and onto another rooftop, following the girl as she weaved expertly through the streets. She finally stopped in a calmer area of the city, and Killua hopped down from the roof to observe up close. She plopped down on the bench, and drew out her map from her many pockets. Unrolling the scroll, she set the map down in her lap, before letting out a long sigh.

"I know you're there." She grumbled, clearly annoyed. "I don't know why you're stalking me, but if you have something to say to me come out and say it to my face."

The white-haired boy raised an eyebrow at this. The words, although just mumbled under her breath were clearly directed to him. Stepping out from behind the building, Killua casually made his way towards the girl, stopping a few feet from her.

"You could tell I was there." Killua stated. "Did something give me away?"

"No." The girl replied simply, not betraying any emotion on her face as she stared back at the male. "You merely made a mistake of showing yourself to me in that shop. My guard raised the moment I saw you."

"Mm. I see." Killua said, pushing his hands into his pockets. He sat down next to the girl, watching out of the corner of the eye as she tensed.

"Is there any reason you're following me?" She asked, yellow eyes flicking to the boy seated next to her. "As far as my knowledge extends, I have no bounty on my head."

"A little bird told me an interesting story." Killua grinned, turning his head slightly to meet the girl's eyes. "I heard that you were participating in the Hunters Exam, am I right?"

"You are." The girl smiled softly, though the smile didn't reach her eyes. "And I take it you are as well?"

"Yes." Killua affirmed, before turning to face the girl completely. "My name is Killua, age 16, nice to meet you." The girl stared at his outstretched hand, and as if sensing her thoughts, Killua added. "Don't worry, there isn't any sort of weapon or drug that can harm you on my hand."

"That doesn't reassure me at all." She replied, but firmly took his hand anyway. "My name is Adira Yamauchi, age 16. Nice to meet you as well."

Killua knew by the smile on her face that Adira didn't trust him. And by the looks of it, she knew that he was just using her.

"You know what that old saying says." Killua said quietly, locking eyes with Adira. "_Keep your friends close..._"

"_And your enemies closer._" Adira finished, eyes twinkling with amusement. "I'll work together with you, but I can't promise you my trust."

"That's all I need." Killua smirked, letting go of the handshake. "Your cooperation is much appreciated." Adira bowed her head mockingly.

"As is yours, Killua-san."

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><p><strong>Words in Chapter: 1,638<strong>

**Words in Total: 2,909**

**Percentage of NaNoWriMo Done (for this chapter): 5.818%**


	3. Raging Storms and Ulterior Motives

****This is a really long chapter, and there's a part that's basically all canon, and although I didn't exactly type line for line, it's pretty close. Anyway, this chapter mainly focuses on introducing Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio. It's pretty much a re-cap, I believe the hunters exam will begin in the next chapter, if not the one after.****

**EDIT 11/15/2014: So, I changed that part in this chapter where a lot of people were saying it was fast paced - and I agree. It made me cringe so much every time I thought about it that I had to go back and fix it. Sorry you had to read that horrifying plot hole. I'm currently focusing on quantity, not quality for NaNoWriMo... you can see that's showing in my writing.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 - Raging Storms and Ulterior Motives<strong>

"You know you could just stay over at my room." Killua said, as he followed Adira through the streets. "There's no need for you to book a hotel room on the other side of town."

"Killua dear we've been over this." Adira said in a sickenly sweet voice, causing the mercenary to shudder and be reminded of the tone his mother constantly used with him. "I do not trust you, and it is completely necessary to be as far away from you as humanly possible. Which leads me to my question. _Why are you following me?_"

"To make sure you get back to your room safely…?" Killua said unsurely.

"We promised to meet at '_Anarchy Incorporated_' tomorrow. Just because we're working together does not mean I have to tolerate you outside of work."

"Harsh." Killua replied lightly, walking easily next to the girl as she quickened the pace.

"Killua, _fuck off_."

"Hey, I'm just trying to do a good deed here. There's nothing wrong with walking a girl back to her hotel room."

"Killua I barely _met_ you. Taking a stranger back to their room is a horrible idea."

"Well then let's get acquainted, ne?"

"You're impossible."

To onlookers, the banter might have seemed to have a bit of a flirtatious edge. But to those who were good at looking underneath the underneath, it gave a whole different meaning entirely.

_There is no need to walk around the entire city to understand the layout. We bought maps for a reason._

_I told you, it'll give us a better idea then what paper could give us. Also, stop following me around, it's suspicious. We could at least split up._

_It's better to have two pairs of eyes looking at everything._

_Whatever you say. We meet tomorrow morning at 7:30 at Dolle Harbor to examine the other candidates, correct?_

_Of course._

_Anything else you need me to know?_

_Try to memorize the map as best you can. Carrying them around could hinder us at some point._

_Alright. I have most of it down. Although just memorizing the city layout won't be enough to give us an edge in the Exam._

_It will have to do. See you tomorrow morning._

_Farewell._

And with a brief nod to each other, they both went their separate ways.

**~G~**

A wave crashed against the boat, rocking it back and forth, dangerously close to tipping over. Lightning flashed, and thunder boomed in the sky. Dark gray clouds covered the sky, pouring down the tears of the heavens into the sea.

"EVERYONE GET BELOW DECK!" A short, stocky man wearing the captain's hat roared, slamming open the door of the navigation deck. "There's a storm a'coming! Douse the sails!"

People flooded the stairs, cursing, slipping, and trying to wipe the rain off of their faces. Crew members grabbed buckets and began tossing water over the side, but to no avail as the water kept piling up.

Below deck wasn't all that better either. Grown men lay sprawled out on the ground, groaning and clutching at their stomachs. The crashing waves doing no good for their seasickness.

"Blasted storm." The old man grumbled, grabbing ahold of the wooden steering wheel. Giving it a vicious spin, he guided the ship left, narrowly avoiding another crashing wave. Objects and people alike flung across the room, crashing against each other. Yells of pain and surprise could be heard above and below deck.

Below deck, motionless bodies piled on the far side of the room. Silent moans could be heard as a few threw up. Only three people looked unaffected by the raging storm outside. A middle aged looking man sitting on a couple of boxes, grimacing as he took a bite out of a bitter apple. A blonde teen lay on a hammock, reading a tiny albeit thick leather bound book.

Meanwhile, a spiky green haired boy was running around, pulling people out from under others, and propping them gingerly against the wooden crates. Giving them words of comfort and smiling brightly.

A while later, as the boat began to shake less, the door swung open to reveal a frail looking crew member with plum purple hair.

"A-ano." He stuttered, holding quickly onto the door frame for support as the boat once again lurched forward. "The c-captain wishes to see y-you three. P-please follow m-me to the n-navigation room."

"Tch." The man that was sitting on the boxes stood up. "Are we finally at the harbor? Staying in this stuffy cabin is horrible." The blonde stayed silent, merely snapping his book closed and swung his legs over the hammock, hopping down from his temporary bed.

"Alright!" The third boy chirped, patting another sick man lightly on the back before straightening. "Could you maybe please bring some water for these guys later?"

"O-of course!" The man said hastily, bowing at the waist. "My n-name is K-katzo. It's nice to meet you! T-this way please." Walking out the door and back up the stairs, rain continued to pour down steadily. Unfazed, Katzo led the other three males around the puddles of water that had collected on deck, and into the navigation room. Knocking on the soggy wooden door, Katzo pushed the door open.

"I-i've brought them as you've r-requested Captain!" Katzo shouted, saluting.

"Excellent work Katzo. Go help the rest of the men raise the sails and clean up." The captain grinned, letting out a puff of smoke from his pipe. "Now, what do we have here? You lads here for the hunter exam?"

"Naturally." The blonde teen snorted. "That's what everyone on this ship is here for." The old captain rolled his eyes.

"Ma, that was supposed to be 'n ice breaker." He replied, scratching at his bright red nose. "So, first of all what are ye lad's names?"

"My name is Leorio." The tall man answered, speaking up first. "But it's Leorio-san to you two."

"It's Kurapika." The blonde answered simply, ignoring Leorio's demand.

"My name is Gon!" The youngest boy replied brightly.

"Why do you three want to be hunters?" The captain asked, blowing into his pipe again. "You there, take over steering."

"That's none of your business." Leorio scoffed loudly. "You're not an examiner, why should we tell you?" Gon stared at the man strangely, before turning back to the captain.

"My dad was a hunter." Gon said with enthusiasm. "I left Whale Island to become a hunter to see what made my dad desire becoming one so much."

The captain raised an eyebrow at this. _Whale Island? Gold eyes, green hair… This is Ging's child, isn't it._

"Hey, brat!" Leorio scowled, turning on the boy. "You weren't supposed to tell him."

"Why not?"

"Because you should take one for the team! I don't want to reveal why I'm here."

"I agree with Leorio." Kurapika interjected calmly, ignoring Leorio's yell of indignation and '_It's Leorio-_san_, show some respect!_'. "I could easily lie to you, but lying is disgraceful in situations as these. However, telling the truth would reveal my darkest secrets. That is why I cannot provide an answer."

"I see. So you refuse to answer my question." The captain sighed, before roaring. "Katzo!" Said man came crashing in through the door, before clumsily saluting and shouting '_aye!_'. "Make note to tell the examination board that we have two more dropouts."

"O-of course!" Katzo stuttered, bowing his head, giving a sympathetic glance to Leorio and Kurapika, before rushing back out the door. Leorio and Kurapika looked shell shocked.

"W-what do you mean?" Leorio stammered, confused.

"Haven't you figured it out yet? The Hunters Exam has already begun." The captain smirked, putting his smoke pipe back into his mouth. "There are as many people who want to be Hunter as there are stars in the sky. So, the board hires people like us to trim down the fat. I've already informed the board that everyone else on this ship has failed. If they can't handle a storm like this, they clearly can't handle being personal soldiers of the king. Think carefully before you answer again."

The rain pattered down restlessly above.

Kurapika relented first.

"I am the remaining survivor of the Kurta clan that was massacred by the Phantom Troupe four years ago. I wish to become a hunter so I can hunt them down."

"You do realize that chasing after the Phantom Troupe means certain death." The captain stated grimly. "Not even seasoned hunters can touch them."

"I don't fear death or it's consequences." Kurapika replied, closing his eyes. "Only that my rage will fade over time."

"So, in other words, you want revenge." Leorio said. "But why do you need to become a hunter to do so?"

"That is one of the most foolish questions I have ever heard." Kurapika sighed, shaking his head at the older man. "Hunters have many resources the general populace has no access to. They can go places others usually can't, perform actions otherwise impossible, obtain knowledge that otherwise can not be acquired, and many other reasons that I'm sure your brain does not have the capacity to understand, Leorio."

"Why you…" Leorio growled, taking a menacing step towards the blonde. Gon hurriedly stepped in between the two, laughing nervously.

"Calm down guys…" He said, trying to sooth their fraying nerves, before quickly changing the subject. "Leorio-san, why do you want to become a hunter?"

"Me?" The man in question blinked, a bit shocked that the conversation had swung around to him. "I'll keep this short and simple. I want to become a hunter for money. The world runs on it, and it can get you anything you want. A big house, nice things, good liquor." He finished with an extravagant sweep, sparkles seemingly appearing next to his face as he did pose after pose.

"Money can't buy you class Leorio." Kurapika scoffed. "And by the looks of it, you need a lot of it."

The older man stopped in his tracks, face flushed red with anger, before relaxing into a deadly calm.

"That's the third time now." Leorio said, glaring over his shoulder at Kurapika. "Step outside. I'll rid this world of the filthy Kurta bloodline once and for all." Shoving his hands into his pockets, he began walking toward the doorway.

"Leorio!" Kurapika snapped, hackles raised. "Take that back!" Leorio paused in the middle of the doorway, not even bothering to look back.

"It's Leorio-_san_ to you." With that, he disappeared into the hallway, Kurapika right behind him.

"Oi!" The boat captain yelled. "Come back here! I'm not done with you yet!"

"Let them go." Gon sighed. "Mito-san once told me that to truly get to know someone well, you need to make an effort to know what makes them angry. It's important for them to know that, so we should let them settle it by themselves." The captain heaved a long sigh smoke puffing out from his pipe. _I hope you're right boy. Would be a hassle if a fight broke out while there was a storm going on._

"Watch the ship." The captain commanded. "Come on Gon, let's make sure they don't go overboard. Literally and figuratively."

The storm whipped around the two figures in the rain, relentless as the rain blew into their faces.

"Take back what you said Leorio!" Kurapika yelled, struggling to be heard over the roaring wind. "If you do, I'll forgive you."

"How many times must I repeat myself? Show me some respect. It's Leorio-san." Leorio snarled, withdrawing a pocket knife from one of his inner pockets. "I won't back down."

"I guess I have no choice…" Kurapika trailed off, taking out his pair of wooden bokken. The boat shook violently, and the waves splashed over the side.

A yell was heard from above as Katzo flew over the side, as the string of the sail mast he was desperately clinging onto whipped over the side, bringing him with it. Instantly forgetting about their fight, both Kurapika and Leorio lunged to the edge to make a grab for Katzo's leg. Both missing by a mere centimeter, they cursed. But before they could lose hope, Gon suddenly flew over the side, latching onto the falling man's legs. Kurapika and Leorio reacted on instinct, both taking ahold of Gon's legs as other crew members rushed over to help them.

Finally, as the rain stopped, and the skies turned blue again, the chaos died down, leaving the crew members to pick up shattered crates, raise the sails, and fix the masts. Of course, that left Kurapika and Leorio time to-

"You idiot!" Kurapika and Leorio yelled in unison, causing Gon to smile sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"If we hadn't grabbed your legs, you'd be shark bait by now!" Leorio yelled, jabbing at the air in front of Gon's face.

"Honestly." Kurapika sighed exasperatedly, a fond smile on his face. "How reckless can you be?"

"But you did!" Gon smiled brightly, garnering confused looks from the other two. "You both caught me."

"Well, I guess so…" Leorio muttered, scratching his head.

A cry of 'Gon' drew their attention to the other side of the ship.

"Katzo!" Gon grinned, waving as the man ran towards the trio.

"Gon, I'd like to thank you for saving my life." Katzo said breathlessly, bowing deeply.

"Well, it wasn't just me." Gon said humbly. "Kurapika and Leorio did just as much. These two also helped save you."

"Thank you very much!" Katzo said, turning to Kurapika and Leorio this time.

"No, you don't need to thank me." Kurapika replied, sending a look to Leorio as to tell him to say something.

"Wha- oh. Well, I'm glad you're okay." Leorio said, smiling at Katzo.

"Aye! I'll be returning to my station now! It was very nice meeting all of you!" And with another deep bow, Katzo ran off, hurriedly returning to his post before anyone could scold him for it. Kurapika smiled at Leorio, causing him to narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"What is it?" Leorio asked.

"Nothing." The blonde responded. "I just wanted apologize for my rude behaviour. Sorry, Leorio-san."

"What's with the sudden change? We sound like strangers, just call me Leorio." Leorio asked, face red with embarrassment. "I'm also sorry for offending your clan, I take back everything I said." The Kurta grinned.

"Apology accepted."

Boisterous laughter from the navigator's deck caused the three to look over, only to see the captain making his way over to them, holding a bottle of liquor.

"I like you guys!" He laughed, taking a swig of the booze. "I've decided! I'll take you guys to Dolle Harbor, one of the closest place to the exam site. Now go below deck and go to sleep, you deserve some rest. We'll reach land bright and early in the morning."

**~K~**

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when Killua awoke. Running a hand through his messy white hair, he got out of bed, knowing that he could not possibly sleep after being woken. Lazily pulling on some clothes, he went to the bathroom to wash up.

Yawning, Killua plopped back down onto his bed, before turning to check the clock on the wall. _It's not even 6 yet…_ He sighed, burying his face in a pillow. _Curse early waking habits. Although I guess after eating breakfast I could just go find a clearing to train in…_ Deciding it was better than staying trapped inside his room for another 2 hours, the mercenary hopped out of bed. But instead of going through the door, he turned to his window, pulled it open with a loud '_thunk_' and jumped out, curtains fluttering in his wake.

Landing softly in a crouch on the dark, desolate streets, Killua straightened and scanned the roads for any shops that were open. He still had a good amount of money that he had taken from Leif Hiroshi's account, so he didn't have to resort to eating travelling rations yet. Light poured from a shop called '_The Greasy Spoon_', and Killua walked quickly toward it, muffling his footsteps as habit overtook him.

"Welcome." A waitress greeted him, bowing respectfully at the waist as the boy entered the restaurant. "Please take a seat, we will be with you shortly." Walking towards the tables, the boy noticed that he wasn't the only one in the diner. An elderly couple sat near the window, a stout, pudgy man with a box like nose sat on one of the counter seats, while in the far corner, Killua spotted a familiar tangle of ginger hair. A smirk crept onto the boy's otherwise expressionless face, as he began stalking stealthily towards the girl. When Killua was about a foot away, Adira turned around, an unamused look on her face.

"Killua when you want to sneak up on someone at least make sure they know you're not there."

"Ma, you're no fun." Killua pouted, sliding into the seat in front of her. "So, what are you doing here so close and so early?" The girl took another careful sip out of her hot beverage, before setting it down lightly on the table. Taking out a small notepad and a pen, she hurriedly scrawled some words onto it before pushing it towards the male.

"I couldn't sleep." She answered simply, closing her eyes for a brief second. "Although by the looks of it, nor could you." Killua raised an eyebrow, before looking at the piece of paper in front of him.

_This place is the entrance to the Hunters Exam. See that pudgy man over there by the counter? He's here for the exam too. He was on the boat that I rode here. Thing is, I don't know how to get in, so I've been doing some spying._

Killua's eyes widened at this, motioning to Adira for the pen. Grabbing it from her, he wrote some more words, pushing it back to her.

"It's probably just your nerves." Killua replied smoothly, taking a quick glance at the man Adira had mentioned, watching intently as the chef handed him a plate with a steaming piece of steak on it. "You'll settle in soon enough."

_This place? Is it just the meeting place, or where the whole thing is held? And how did you find out?_

"I suppose." Adira said lightly, taking the notebook and pen from Killua. "How are you faring?" Scribbling some more letters, the girl pushed it back.

_We'll talk later. Somewhere where people can't spy on us._

"Fairly well." Killua said, before folding the notebook back up and handing it back to the girl. Adira quickly tucked the notebook back into her jacket, just as the waitress walked over.

"So what can I get for you two on this fine morning?" The girl smiled, pulling out her own notepad. Killua reached for the menu that was laying open next to Adira.

"Two blueberry pancakes please." Adira replied, swatting away Killua's hand, causing the boy to glare at her.

"Ignore her please, she means two _chocolate_ pancakes."

"Blueberry."

"Chocolate."

"Alright, one chocolate pancake, and one blueberry pancake coming right up." The waitress giggled. As she walked away, Killua glared at the ginger, while Adira tried to maintain an innocent look. Before he could begin berating her, the waitress returned with their plates.

"Here you are. Enjoy!" She smiled brightly, gently setting down the plates in front of them. "You guys make a cute couple." Killua spit out his milk, and Adira quickly reached for the napkins, handing them to the boy.

"We're not." Killua protested, but the waitress just winked, before walking away. The white headed boy sighed, burying his face in his hands. _My god, what would father say? Two days into the mission, and people already think I have a girlfriend. Oh god, and Illumi, he would never let me forget about this._

"You know, that could play out to our advantage." Adira laughed, clearly amused at Killua's disbelief. The mercenary lifted his head off the table.

"How so?" Killua asked, scrunching up his face. "Unless you want people to think we've secretly eloped and run away from our families, I don't see how it'll help." Adira rolled her eyes.

"Think about it." Adira said, taking a bite of her pancake. "It'll be a nice cover, and a good excuse for us to be alone and exchange plans during the exam. It'll even cover for when later on when we both become hunters, and you still wish to exchange plans." Killua froze mid bite. Did she know about his mission?

"What are you talking about?" Killua asked, trying to remain oblivious.

"Don't play stupid with me." Adira replied, shoving another piece of her pancake into her mouth. "Becoming a hunter isn't your goal, it's a cover up." Killua's eyes narrowed, as he stabbed his pancake a little harder than necessary.

"And you would know this because…?" He asked, a threatening edge in his voice.

"It's quite blatantly obvious." Adira replied, not at all affected by the mercenary's hostility, although he could see her hand itching to grab onto the knife that she had been using to cut her pancakes. "If all you really wanted to do was become a hunter, you wouldn't have made a truce with me. You would've gone to some other person, who was guaranteed to make it. Not a person like me, who at first glance is clearly suited for infiltration. And even that is hard to believe, as I'm sure you can pass it with ease by yourself."

"Figures I just had to team up with someone who's scarily observant." Killua sighed, running his hand through his hair, trying to ward off the incoming headache. "So, can I convince you to forget about this? Or do I have to kill you?" Was he losing his touch? He had been discovered in two days, and by a female nonetheless.

"No need." Adira smirked, pushing her now empty plate away from her. "I intend to see what you are planning to do, and I intend to see you through with it."

"Oh?" Killua raised an eyebrow at this. "Even if I were to tell you that I intend to dethrone the current king of Yorbian?"

"As if something that ridiculous could happen." Adira snorted, locking gazes with Killua. "But yes, hypothetically, if say, you were to want to kill the king of Yorbian, yes, I would help you with it."

A silence fell over them, as Killua stuffed the last of the food into his mouth.

"God, you're such a strange person." Killua said finally, breaking the silence, stacking his plate on top of Adira's. "And I can't even tell if you're legitimately serious or just lying to me to obtain my trust." Adira stayed quiet for a little longer, before letting out a shaky breath.

"You remind me of someone I knew." She said quietly, the atmosphere quickly turning somber. "He was one of the closest people to me."

"Who?" Killua frowned, not letting the fact that Adira used past tenses slip past him, and mentally prepared himself for any random outbursts. He had been taught that emotional women could be very violent and unpredictable… the hard way. "What happened to him?"

"My brother." Adira said. her bangs falling over her face. "He's dead now, of course."

"Oh." Killua said softly.

"I guess it's part instinct, part curiosity, and partly because I feel as if I owe you something that I'm working with you." Adira continued. "I stand true to my word, if you don't wish to believe me, don't. Trust me, or don't. Either way, I'm committed to this cause."

"Trust is not really a valid option in this partnership." Killua sighed. "I believe what you're saying is true, but at this point, we still can't trust each other. Unless you can prove that without a shadow of a doubt that you truly mean to help me, we'll have to proceed under the thin protection of honor and promises." Dead silence washed over the two again.

"Come on." Killua finally said, standing up, avoiding eye contact with the orange haired girl in front of him. "It's nearly 7 o'clock, let's head to the harbor. The boats carrying the hunter candidates should be arriving soon." Adira stood up as well, taking a shaky breath, and letting a neutral expression fall back onto her face.

"But of course." She replied lightly, as if she had not just been cracked and spilled the death of a family member to him. "We should be on our way. Thank you for the meal." Adira gave the boy a small smile, and Killua smiled back, if only to reassure her. He needed her in his plan, he couldn't let her break now.

* * *

><p><strong>Augh, writing the scenes with Killua and Adira are so much easier than the rest because I hate having to rewrite scenes that have already been written. It feels like I'm plagiarizing things.<strong>

**Words in Chapter: 4,272**

**Words in Total: 7181**

**Percentage of NaNoWriMo done (for this chapter): 14.362%**


	4. The Arrival of the Three

**Here you go, the next chapter in all of it's unedited glory. And for all of you who care, I FINISHED NANOWRIMO. Except my quality of writing dropped a good 40% because word bloat. Later in the indefinite future, I'll definitely be rewriting this whole thing. But not now. Please enjoy this story full of OOCness, plotholes, and pointless conversations.**

* * *

><p><strong>~G~<strong>

"Gon, wake up!" Kurapika said, shaking the boy slightly. Gon merely groaned, rolling over and muttering _'five more minutes Mito-san_'.

"Tch, you know you're going to fall like that." Leorio commented, buttoning on his shirt as he watched Kurapika attempt to drag Gon out of the top bunk.

"I'd like to see you try to get him to wake up." Kurapika retorted, shoving Gon once more, albeit harder this time. "Gon _wake up_."

"Step aside, let the professional handle this." Leorio said, clearing his throat. He lightly shoved Kurapika out of the way, causing the blonde to glare at him. "GON! BREAKFAST IS READY! IF YOU DON'T GET UP NOW I'M GOING TO EAT IT ALL!"

Gon jolted up immediately, throwing off the covers and lept over Kurapika and Leorio's head, landing in a pile of his clothes on the floor.

"Maaa, Leorio, don't scare me like that." Gon whined, sitting up and rubbing his head as he realized what had happened. "Why did you have to wake me up so early anyway?"

"Gon, it's nearly 6:45." Kurapika reminded him, extending a hand to help pull the boy up. "The boat reaches Dolle Harbor in about 19 minutes, we have just enough time to go above deck and grab some breakfast."

"And you'd better hurry too." Leorio said, pulling on his tie and picking up his suitcase. "If you don't get there soon, the crew will devour it. I'm heading up, Ja." With that, he sauntered out their shared room, briefcase in hand. Gon hurriedly began pulling on clothes.

"Well, I'll be heading as well." Kurapika said, pulling his shoulder bag on over his head. "Better hurry up Gon." Pulling on the last of his clothes, Gon hastily picked up his fishing pole and backpack, before hurriedly running out the room.

**Line break yayyy~**

"Wow!" Gon exclaimed, leaning over the side of the ship as the port came into view. "The city's so big!"

"Just wait until you see the castle." Kurapika added, coming up to stand next to Gon. "It's a truly magnificent sight."

"Are we almost there?" Leorio asked flippantly, flipping through another few pages of his 'playboy' magazine. "Honestly, another day on this boat and I would've burst."

"Stop reading that!" Kurapika scolded, face slightly flushed. "And especially in front of Gon!"

"Eh?" Gon asked, completely oblivious. "What is that Leorio-san?"

"I told you, it's just Leorio." The man replied, before raising an eyebrow. "And Gon, you're 15 right? You're telling me that you still don't know what playboy is?" Gon merely shook his head, a curious look on his face. Leorio's face broke into a smirk. "Well you see, it's this magazine where-" He was instantly cut off as Kurapika slammed his hand against his mouth, his shouts of anger being muffled by the blonde's offending hand.

"Moving on." Kurapika said abruptly, releasing Leorio's mouth, wincing slightly at the screams of rage the man let out.

"Oi, brats!" The loud voice of the captain called out, drawing their attention across the ship. "We're docking in 3 minutes! Come into the navigator's room, I need to talk to you before you leave."

The three males crowded into the Navigator's room, only to see the captain steering the wooden wheel.

"Ah, you're here." He said, turning around. Motioning for another crew member to take over, he turned to face the boys. "Let's get down to business. Now, when you get to the city, you'll still have a week before the Hunters Exam starts. What I suggest you to do is to book a hotel, and relax for a couple of days. Two days before the exam starts, there will be a map posted on the main board in the town square. Go up to the Cedar Tree that's up in the mountains. There will be a family of navigators willing to bring you to the exam site there."

"Why do we have to wait?" Kurapika asked, frowning. "Wouldn't it be more logical to get there more early, to be able to prepare for it?" The captain shook his head.

"No, although all of the hunter applicants assemble at the city a week before the exam actually starts, the Hunters Exam doesn't even begin accepting people into the exam until two days before hand."

"What kind of logic is that?" Leorio scoffed, scratching at his nose. "That's ridiculous. They should make sure all of the dates align so that people don't have to wait."

"But Leorio." Gon interjected. "Aren't the different dates set up as another test for the hunter applicants?"

"You know you're slow when Gon gets the point before you." Kurapika said dryly, garnering a '_what's that supposed to mean_' from both Gon and Leorio. The captain snickered loudly, taking another swig from his seemingly always filled liquor bottle.

"Captain, w-we've docked!" Katzo shouted, running into the room. "All preparations are ready, three others h-have gone into town to s-stock up on supplies."

"Excellent work." The captain responded, dismissing him. "Now scram. Get off my boat and show the Hunters Exam what you've got!"

**~K~**

Killua and Adira walked through the streets at a casual pace, heading directly towards Dolle Harbor.

"We still have seven days left." Adira pointed out, attempting to start a conversation. "And all of the applicants should be arriving today. Leaving out the days we have to leave early for the exam, that leaves us with about four days of free time."

"Five actually." Killua corrected, motioning to Adira to turn a corner. "Since Hunters Exam begins to accept applicants two days prior to the actual exam. Since we already know where it's located, we merely need to watch others to find out how to get into it."

"Point taken. But you still haven't answered my question."

"Training." Killua replied, garnering a strange look from the girl beside him. "And probably some strategizing as well."

"Training?" Adira repeated dubiously.

"I told you I'd help you become a hunter, right?" Killua said, shoving his hands further into his pockets. "And you said you'd help me achieve my goal. Well, to do that, and don't take this personally, but you're going to need to get a lot stronger."

"Right, sensei." Adira drawled sarcastically, rolling her gold eyes. "I am honored to be under your tutelage." This earned a well deserved smack on the back of the head by the boy next to her, causing the ginger's head to snap forward a bit.

"You should be very damned well thankful." Killua growled. "And you have quite a hard head, that would've sent many others flying face first into the dust."

"I am honored to know that sensei appreciates my stubbornness. "Adira replied, eyes twinkling with hidden laughter.

"And I am honored to learn that my student is a cheeky brat." Killua retorted, as the two once again fell into a silence, the steady beat of their nearly synched footsteps being the only noise the duo made. The mercenary sighed deeply as though aggravated, causing the girl next to him to glance over out of the corner of her eye.

"This won't work." Killua sighed, running a hand through his hair, the relatively friendly atmosphere turning dark.

"What won't work?" Adira asked, frowning.

"This... partnership." He replied stopping in the middle of the street, as if that explained everything. Adira halted besides him, the crowd parting like a stream around them, before she too let out a sigh.

"Killua, contrary to what you think, not everyone knows what's going through your head at all times. Please explain in detail."

"This partnership, alliance, whatever you want to call it, won't work." Killua said, turning to face the girl entirely. "We don't trust each other enough."

"Yes, we've already been over this." Adira said, raising an eyebrow. "We don't trust each other, because frankly, you don't know me, and I don't know you. But some alliances do work without trust, you know."

"The type of alliance you're talking about is one where someone gains something." Killua growled. "And what do you have to gain from this alliance? What basis do you have that lets me trust you?"

"I don't understand why you need trust to go with this." Adira sighed, glancing out of the corner of her eye to the path to the harbor. "And I gain my hunters licenses from this alliance, for one."

"I'm trying to say, how can I trust you? Why should I not kill you where you stand?" Killua demanded.

"Fine!" Adira said, exasperated. "Trust, you want trust? All you need to hold my trust is to promise to help my village. But I suppose this has to be a two way thing. What do you want me do for you, oh holy one?"

"You're missing the point!" Killua shouted back, his voice demanding. "_How can I trust you_? How do I know that you're not just some spy trying to sabotage my work. You didn't seem at all surprised when I told you I was going to assassinate someone."

"I didn't think you were telling the truth!" Adira protested, raising her hands in defense, and Killua believed her, if only slightly. "So what do I need to gain your 'trust'?" Killua stopped, his mouth halfway open, ready to yell again. _My trust...?_ He pondered quietly. _Trust? I don't really trust anyone aside from family, and even then, I wouldn't say it's 'trust', just knowledge that they'll do something for money and honor._

"We'll see." Was his curt answer. "For now, honor binds us. Is that good enough?"

"You were the one freaking out, I'm perfectly fine with it." Adira replied, sensing that the conversation was over, turning back to face the road they were going down.

Without another word, they continued.

"Should we split up?" Adira asked, as the two stopped in front of the many docks in the harbor. "I see a couple of Hunter exam ships over there. There's a few more over there in the opposite direction."

"How can you tell?" Killua asked, squinting as he peered at the ships Adira had pointed to. "There isn't any special mark on them as far as I can tell."

"I have strange instincts." Adira said, amused. "Survival instincts. There are some strong people on those boats."

"So basically your gut tells you what to run away from. But instead of following it's advice you use it to locate others?" Killua snickered at the absurdity of that.

"Right, just laugh it out." Adira said, rolling her eyes. "I'll be taking the west side. Have fun with the east side." With that, she disappeared into the crowd. Leaving Killua behind as he instantly sobered, kicking into mission mode. He didn't miss the fact that Adira only assigned him two boats, while she herself took four. _There must be some scary strong people on a few of them_. Killua thought idly, looking towards the ships Adira has motioned to check on._ Might as well begin_. Killua grimaced. Sometimes, he wished that assassinations could be straightforward. Kill, and be done with it. No questions asked.

**~A~**

Adira padded lightly through the streets, heading to the ships she had felt most danger from. Her gut wasn't guaranteed to help her track and locate all of the hunter candidates, only the ones that posed a threat. And in the end, that's pretty much all that mattered. Breaking into a run, Adira dashed through the streets, heading towards the first ship that was in her general direction. Looking back over her shoulder, she spotted the last traces of white before Killua disappeared into the crowd as well. Grimacing on the inside, she shuddered as she remembered the amount of blood lust that was contained on one of the ships in Killua's direction alone._ I know he can handle himself._ She thought, biting her lip as she stopped in front of the first ship. _But that aura… I had the feeling that they were a lion, and I was a helpless rabbit, trapped, injured, bleeding out with no where to run._

"Killua has four in his direction." Adira whispered underneath her breath, as she ducked quickly into an alleyway. "I have seven. Better get going." Leaping onto the rooftop, she crouched down, removing herself from the line of sight of everyone who wasn't paying close attention. Pulling out a notepad and a pencil, Adira waited patiently. Three similar looking men walked off of the first ship. Quickly sketching down their appearance, she leaned in closer, attempting to listen in to their conversation.

"... Ne, Amori. Do you think we'll pass the Hunters Exam this year?" The youngest boy with the light blue shirt asked.

"Of course Imori!" The taller, albeit just as skinny and frail looking man that she quickly scribbled down to be called 'Amori' answered. "After all, us three brothers have improved our team work to the finest since last year!"

"We've certainly improved as a whole." The buff man standing in the middle huffed. "But do you think it'll be enough to defeat that Hisoka?"

"Umori, don't even bring that up." Amori shuddered. "That man is a monster, we should avoid him."

"Yeah." Imori nodded. "With his jester like appearance, a lot of people underestimate him." Snapping her notepad shut, Adira hopped away on the roofs, their conversation fading away into nothing. _Hisoka…_ she thought idly. _Is that the name of one of the people Killua is spying on? The one that I felt all that bloodlust from?_

Stopping abruptly at the edge of another roof, Adira spotted two others she had felt earlier._ A gray haired swordsmen. Sword strapped to right side. Possibly left handed? Ginger bowman with pink hat. Working with each other? If so, stay away._ Adira jotted down, drawing a quick sketch of the men. Watching them pass by the building she was standing on, both making no attempts at conversation, she frowned, before deciding that she'd do more research later. _Come to think of it, the boat captain did give me a list of all the notable hunter candidates and their information…_ She then winced, remembering the thickness of the papers and the tiny scrawled handwriting that she had immediately dropped in her hotel room and forgot about it. _Yeah, let's use that as a last resort._ Following the two men for a little while longer, Adira decided that it would be better to go find the others.

Cursing under her breath, she realized that the two distinctive auras that her gut had warned her to stay away from had wandered away from the port. Furrowing her brow, she bunched up her muscles, and went running across the rooftops. _Thank god for people being uncreative and all wanting to build their houses the same way._ Heavens knows how tired she would be if she actually had to jump around to get places. Finally getting close to the oppressing danger she felt, Adira froze, as the gray haired man that she had been tailing turned around, and stared directly at her.

**~G~**

"We're finally here!" Gon cried, running off the boat excitedly as Kurapika and Leorio followed at a slower pace. "Ne, Kurapika, Leorio, what's the first thing you want to do after we book a hotel?"

"Get some actual reading done." Kurapika replied, holding up his book. "With you guys around, I can hardly get enough quiet time to settle down and relax."

"You sound like a housewife." Leorio laughed, as the trio began walking down the dock and towards the city. "As for me, I'm going to go to a store and buy some more… fine works of literature such as this one."

"Pervert." Kurapika said, glaring at the man for calling him a 'housewife'. "What about you Gon?"

"Eh, I'm going to explore the city!" Gon chirped, waving to a random fishermen as they passed him by. "Maybe try to meet some other Hunter candidates."

At that moment, a white-haired boy came barreling full speed into Leorio, causing both of them to go tumbling onto the dirt road.

"Hey, watch where you're going kid!" Leorio growled, rubbing his rear end. "You're going to accidentally push someone into the water if you do that!"

"Oh, sorry ossan!" The boy smirked, hopping up and brushing dust off of his pants. A tick mark appeared on Leorio's face, yelling at the boy as Kurapika dragged him up. "Didn't see you there, my apologies. I'm training to improve my speed for the hunters exam." This caught the their attention, even Leorio paused in his yelling to stare at the boy. Not surprisingly, Gon was the one who broke the silence.

"Ah, you're taking the hunters exam too?" He asked, extending his arm and smiling brightly. "My name is Gon Freecss, nice to meet you!"

"My name's Killua. Just Killua." Replied the boy, firmly shaking Gon's hand. "Nice to see people around the same age as me taking it as well. So, what are your names?"

"It's Leorio!" Leorio yelled, still furious at the boy for knocking him over and calling him 'uncle'. "And Leorio-_san_ to you brat!" Kurapika however, was more cautious.

"Why should I give you my name?" He asked coolly. "As far as we know, you could be someone trying to sabotage us by getting close to us. From what I've heard, there are veterans in the exam who make it their personal goal to break rookies." Leorio had a look of shock on his face as if he never realized that possibility.

"But, I don't think he's trying to hurt us." Gon said, frowning slightly at the blonde.

"Ma, there's no need for me to intentionally sabotage others." Killua said, raising his hands up next to his head as if surrendering. "I'm a rookie like you guys as well. I just wanted to see if we could be potential allies. No need to get so cautious about it." _Although_. Killua smirked internally. _I would probably have the same reaction._

"I'm Kurapika Kurta." The blonde said finally. "It's… nice to meet you."

"Ne, Killua, would you happen to know any hotels near here?" Gon asked. "We sort of need someplace to spend the next few days." Killua perked up at this._ This is a good opportunity to spy on them some more..._

"Of course!" Killua replied, smiling a bit at the three. "There's a hotel near here that I'm staying at. The rent's pretty cheap as well. Do you want me to bring you there?" A chorus of 'sure's rang out, and Killua smiled again. "It's just a bit over there." He said, pointing west. "Come on, follow me." He turned and began leading the trio towards the building. _Hopefully, Adira would understand why he didn't meet back at their meeting spot… right?_

**~A~**

"You there, up on the rooftop. Show yourself."

Adira froze. _How did he…?_ Eyes narrowing, she quickly imagined all escape routes, and things to do in different situations._ He doesn't seem hostile… Should I comply? Probably the best choice in this situation… he's already sensed me. He won't lower his guard anymore until I'm long gone._

Leaping over the edge of the roof, Adira landed softly, bending her knees to soften the impact. Cautiously, she straightened slowly, focusing her intense gaze on the old man._ His hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and he's wearing a fighting outfit. His muscles seem to be very well toned, and he walks like he's ready to slip into a stance at any moment. Martial artist, maybe?_

The man looked almost shocked to see her, before carefully reigning in his emotions, his face once again returning to a state of neutrality.

"I was expecting something else." He said, quite amused as he stroked his mustache. "Probably a strong looking, well built hunter candidate following me. Not a frail little girl who looks like she could be easily snapped in half." If she were anywhere else, Adira would've snapped and showed him what that 'frail little girl' could do to him and his future. Instead, she settled with letting her left eye twitch violently.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you." She replied fluidly, choosing to be diplomatic instead of letting out the vicious string of curse words she had been preparing in her mind. "But you know what they say, looks can be deceiving, ne?"

"That's true, that's true." The man laughed, still stroking his _god forsaken mustache_. "That is why when I detect an enemy, I will fight them no matter how ridiculous or weak they look."

"Is that a threat, or an insult?" Adira asked, still keeping a smile on her face, however strained.

"It would be very interesting to fight you." Bodoro mused, slipping his hands into his sleeves. "However, I have a code of honor that prevents me from outright fighting children, no matter what their skill level. You are a hunter candidate, am I correct?"

"But of course." The ginger replied, relaxing although still very much on edge.

"You did quite well following me. Had I been anyone else with less experience, I would have bypassed your presence entirely."

"Your praise is much appreciated." Adira bowed slightly, still keeping her gaze fixated upon the man. "I take it you are taking the hunters exam as well?"

"I'm sure you knew that before you even began following me." The man grinned, eyes crinkling with hidden laughter. "My name is Bodoro, it's nice to see that the competition this year hasn't decreased at all."

"My name is Adira." Adira replied simply. "It has been nice meeting you as well." Sensing that the conversation was now dead, and that she should probably leave before something hostile happened, Adira pivoted slightly, not turning her back on the man entirely, as it would be foolish to assume that he was still not a threat. And to most martial artists, turning your back on them was very offensive, and for all Adira knew it might cause Bodoro to change his mind and attack her.

"Ah, if I could bother you with one more small task." Bodoro called, causing Adira to halt mid step and swivel back around. "You see, I've been in need of a sparring partner lately, and the spears men Gozu that I normally train with is not yet in town."

"Would you like for me to help find you one?" Adira asked sweetly. "After all, I'm sure a weak, frail looking girl like me won't be much of a challenge to a great martial artist as you."

"You've got quite a sharp tongue, but can you back it up in a fight?" Bodoro asked, baiting the girl. _Only brash, inexperienced fighters would rise to that bait._ The ginger thought, snickering internally._ But of course, in the name of science, and for the sake of research..._

"That I can." Adira grinned. "Is there a spot you have in mind?"

**\\Moar line breaks./**

Adira coughed violently, as she was once again knocked back into a tree from the brunt force of Bodoro's punch, knees giving out underneath her as she crumpled to the ground. Bodoro dropped his stance, before giving a curt bow.

"I'll admit that you can back up your words. Being able to land blows on me in a fist to fist fight is quite an accomplishment." Bodoro said, stepping in closer to the girl. "It is quite painful for me to harm a child, but let these words get through to your head. You are but a human, and the hunters exam is for monsters, or the truly experienced. You should quit now, or your life will be forfeit."

"I suppose." Adira laughed bitterly, wavering as she forced her aching muscles to stand back up. "God, I feel so pathetic right now."

"Stop straining yourself, the fight is over." Bodoro frowned, watching the girl wince as jolts of pain ran up her muscles. "I inflicted some serious damage to some of your muscles, I'm mildly surprised you're still standing."

"The fight was over a long time ago." Adira whispered. "We both knew that. I was just a bit too stubborn for my own good. Thank you for the fight though, Bodoro-san."

"Can you manage? Do you need me to bring you back to where you're staying or anything?" The man asked in concern, guilt overtaking him.

"I'll manage." Adira sighed, giving in to exhaustion and falling back down onto the ground. "I need time to sort out my thoughts anyway."

"Very well." Nodded Bodoro. "I will leave you alone." Bowing one last time at the fallen girl, Bodoro turned and left the clearing they had chosen to spar in.

When Adira felt that Bodoro was a safe distance away, she punched the ground in frustration, biting back a yell of defeat and absolute vexation.

"He's right, he's right." Adira sighed, burying her head in her hands. "Bodoro's absolutely right." _I'm hopelessly weak._ Adira groaned. _I barely stand a chance in the hunter exams. A hunter… seriously, why did I ever think this was a good idea? Honestly, I got too full of myself after Ging helped train me. I'm still not strong enough after all… not strong enough to help the village, not strong enough to reach my own goals… Hell, not even strong enough to even face my own weaknesses._

"What would old man Dwun say? Or even sweet little Noko?" Adira mumbled, her bangs shading her face, hiding her expression. "But they're dead. Hopelessly, infuriatingly dead."

_And Killua_. Adira winced. W_hat had she been thinking? You do not go to a stranger you had barely met and start working with them on a whim. It doesn't matter how much he reminds you of your deceased brother, that is not a valid excuse. Hasn't anyone taught you better? Trust is not to be handed out like candy. It's to be carefully guarded, hidden. Only to be shown to select few you know will not betray it._ Staying curled up into a ball for a few more moments, Adira unraveled herself, shakily standing up, ignoring the cries of pain from her muscles.

"Okay, pity party is over now." The ginger frowned, rubbing at her sore arms. "Time to suck it up and carry on." Walking slowly towards the path she and Bodoro had taken there, she tried desperately to fix her appearance, knowing how bedraggled she must've looked after the fight.

Adira took to the roads this time, positive that her muscles could not take the strain of traveling on the rooftops. However, this proved to only cause her more pain, as taking to the streets meant more people. And people in general, especially in crowded areas meant a lot of pushing and shoving. After what seemed like hours of pushing through a mass of bodies, Adira reached the intended meeting spot in the port.

Only to find no white headed mercenary.

Thinking he was late, Adira sat down on one of the many supply crates. However, after a good ten or so minutes of waiting she began to grow impatient.

"Unless he's fighting an ultimate death battle, or his dead body is floating somewhere in the lagoon, he has no reason to be this late." Grumbling some more unintelligible choice words underneath her breath, Adira was preparing to walk away when her gut twisted and she felt like she had been plunged in ice, cold water.

"If you're looking for that white haired boy." A silky voice rang out behind her, clear above the other mixed sounds of the pier. "He led three other cute boys back to the hotel he was staying in."

"Is that so?" Adira asked turning slightly as the corner of her mouth twitched. "Thank you for informing me." _This is the bloodlust I felt earlier._ Adira gulped. _Well, here's one person I should definitely avoid at all times._

"Ma, no need to feel so nervous ." The man who oddly resembled a jester purred. "I won't harm you… yet." He began shuffling a deck of cards, and Adira contemplated if she should just make a run for it. "Ah, here we go… " The cards smoothly fell to one hand, and he drew the top deck of the card with a big flourishing swoop and handed it to the girl. "For you." He smiled, watching the girl cautiously accept it and turn it over.

"A two of diamond." Adira read out loud. "Are you attempting to tell my future? Or just trying to show me a cheap magic trick?"

"That's all up to you to decide ."

"Of course… Then I'll be taking my leave."

"Farewell ~ "

**~G~**

"Well, here we are." Killua said, leading the three into the lobby of the hotel. "The reception desk is over there. I can help you guys sign in, if you'd like."

"That would be appreciated." Kurapika said, gray eyes scanning the hotel lobby.

"Ah!" Gon shouted in surprise, slapping his own head as if suddenly remembering something. "I forgot I didn't bring any money to rent a hotel room." Leorio stared blankly at the spiky haired boy, Killua burst out laughing, and Kurapika merely shook his head smiling softly.

"You could always share with one of us." Kurapika offered weakly. "Besides, the rooms can't be _that_ expensive." Killua only smirked knowingly.

"A THOUSAND JENNY FOR A ONE NIGHT STAY?! AND NOT EVEN INCLUDING MEALS?!" Leorio bellowed loudly, slamming his hands on the reception desk, causing the female receptionist to wince and shrink slightly in her office chair.

"H-hai sir."

"Forget this!" Leorio yelled. "Killua do you know any other hotels in the city?"

"Only one that isn't full." Killua snickered. "And it's all the way across town."

"Killua, how long have you been staying here…?" Kurapika asked slowly, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

"Two days."

"And you're staying here until the hunters exam… right?"

"Of course."

"Meals aside, Killua you'd be spending _eight thousand_ jenny on housing fees alone."

"I know." Killua blinked, playing the oblivious card. "Your point is?"

"Rich brat." Leorio muttered sourly underneath his breath.

"Wow Killua, your family must have a lot of money." Gon said in awe. Killua just shrugged.

"I guess. It's probably because our whole family contributes to the business. There's my grandfather, my father, my mother, my two older brothers, and one of my younger brothers… Not to mention our services aren't cheap."

"Oh really? So what does your family do?" Leorio asked, almost challengingly.

"Missions." Killua answered simply, sticking out his tongue jokingly. "And that's all you really need to know."

"Your room is huge Killua!" Gon exclaimed, wide eyed as the mercenary lead the three into his suite.

"You think so? There should be enough room for you guys to stay here." Killua said, kicking some of the papers that littered his floor into a pile, before smiling slightly at Gon. "If there isn't, I can get someone to show you to the other hotel."

"We'd hate to impose on you." Kurapika said. "But if the other hotel is just as expensive as this one, I'm afraid we can't really deny your offer."

"Well, I'm all for staying here." Leorio cheered, plopping unceremoniously down on the sofa, sinking into a state of bliss. "Man, this place is amazing. I could live here forever."

"As flattering as that is... please don't." Killua said, making a beeline for his mission papers, quickly stuffing them back into the folder and shoving it into a cabinet. "After all, it would be pretty embarrassing if you had to depend on a boy half your age to take care of you." Leorio let out a yell of rage, balling up his fists and threatening the boy, but not making any movement to leave the heaven that was the sofa he was currently laying on. Kurapika made his way to another one of the sofas that Leorio was not currently occupying, before sitting down and setting his bag next to him. Taking out his book, he began to read.

"Ne, Killua." Gon asked, peering out the opened window. "If you have some time later, do you want to go explore the city?"

"Why not now?" Killua smirked, walking up next to Gon and pushing the window further open. "Race you to the harbor!" With that, he hopped over the window sill and out into the streets. Kurapika's head snapped up in alarm, while Leorio simply looked up lazily.

"Wait Gon, that's not safe, don't-" Kurapika began, trying to stop the boy from doing anything stupid, but to no avail. Gon followed after Killua excitedly, leaping out the window and letting out a cry of '_hey, you got a head start!_'. "Jump out the window…" The blonde sighed tiredly, bringing a hand up to his head to massage the incoming headache.

"Just leave them be." Leorio said, laying his head back down on the sofa. "Kids these days have so much energy."

"That just makes you sound old." Kurapika snorted. "And these days? What does that make us?"

"Not as energetic."

Silence fell over the room.

The Kurta burst out laughing, causing Leorio to scowl, a faint blush of embarrassment making it's way onto his face.

"I never knew you had that in you Leorio." Kurapika laughed, covering his smile with his hand.

"Oh shut it." Leorio grumbled, his long legs dangling off the side of the couch. "Go back to reading your stupid novel."

"It's not a novel." Kurapika corrected. "It's a nonfiction, biological documentary that talks about-" A loud rap on the door interrupted him, and Kurapika stood up to get it.

"Are they back already?" Leorio asked, rolling onto his back and letting his head dangle off the couch arm. "Or is it just room service?"

"Leorio, they don't have room service here." Kurapika reminded him, resting his hand on the doorknob. "And Killua should have his own keys."

"...But he might've forgotten them when he jumped out the window." Leorio countered, causing the blonde to roll his eyes. Another knock interrupted their banter, and Kurapika opened the door.

"Killua I swear to god-" A girl with bright ginger hair and yellow eyes began, only to stop when she realized that there was a blonde standing at the door. "Ah shit, wrong door. Sorry!" She started backing up, before Kurapika's voice stopped her.

"No, this is his room." Kurapika answered politely. "Do you need him for something? He's currently out right now." The girl muttered something underneath her breath the blonde couldn't quite catch, before she smiled politely in return and bowed.

"I see, thanks anyway. When he gets back, can you tell him that Adira came looking for him?"

"Of course." The blonde replied, closing the door and locking it as the girl left.

"Oh, does our little friend have a certain girl he hasn't told us about?" Leorio laughed, sitting up and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Kurapika shook his head, as he sat back down in his chair.

"Don't assume things like that. She could've been his cousin for all you know."

"Pshaw, what are the chances of that?" Leorio snorted, waving his hand in front of his face, as if dismissing that thought entirely. "You were the one who saw her up close. Orange hair and yellow eyes. What are the chances of Killua having a cousin like that?"

"Leorio, technically if his mother had a sister, and her husband who had-"

"Please don't start." Leorio groaned. "I'm sorry for even _asking_ a rhetorical question."


	5. Bonding and Naginatas

**More unedited chapters~ If anyone wants to help edit/criticize, please go right ahead in the reviews. Because reviews are life, and I actually legitimately need to edit this. _To those who were reading this beforehand, I have replaced chapter 4 so it's not an AN, go read that if you haven't already._**

**And ohhh man. I made quite a few Naruto references XD**

**And to those who still care: There's still a good chapter or so of filler before we actually get to the hunters exams arc.**

* * *

><p><strong>~K~<strong>

Killua flipped and landed gracefully, ignoring the shocked looks from many people that were walking on the street at the time. Not bothering to see if Gon had followed him, he dashed through the streets, heading for Dolle Harbor. Hearing Gon's cry of '_hey, you got a headstart!_', Killua's grin only became wider, as he began pushing his speed limit. Glancing back flippantly, Killua saw blurring flashes of green, as Gon began to catch up. _Sorry, but not in this lifetime._ Killua smirked, pushing even harder than before, only a white blur whizzing through the streets. Soon, Gon was nowhere to be seen.

Skidding to a stop at the harbor, Killua narrowly avoided the flailing body of Gon as he tried to stop abruptly. Laughing, Killua extended a hand out to the fallen boy, helping him up off of the ground.

"That's not fair Killua!" Gon protested, rubbing his throbbing back. "You could've at least warned me we were racing."

"But what fun would that be?" Killua smirked, linking his hands together behind his head, causing the green haired boy to pout. "Say, where do you want to go first?"

"Eh, I was thinking we could go into the eastern forest." Gon said, pointing to the lush, green woods that could be seen even from the port. "If we had time, I guess going up to the mountain would be really cool as well."

"Forest it is then." Killua said. "Race again?"

"You're on!" Gon grinned wolfishly.

Two figures burst out of the underbrush, inelegantly tumbling and crashing into each other.

"Hah, I win this time!" Gon yelled, triumphant as he sat up, ignoring the leaves sticking out everywhere in his hair.

"Please." Killua said, shaking his head furiously to get the various vegetation out of his hair. "I clearly beat you here, don't even try to deny it."

"Killua, lying is bad!" Gon grinned, lightly nudging the other boy with his foot. "Just admit you lost already."

"Me, lose?" Killua asked, faking shock. "Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

"Dead positive." Gon replied, laughing as Killua punched him sparingly on the shoulder. Both falling back on their backs, catching their breaths, a calm silence fell over them, as the sun slowly began to creep back down towards the horizon.

"Ne, Killua, is that a notepad over there?" Gon asked, pointing towards an object that was lying on the forest floor.

"It is." Killua noted with mild surprise, turning his head slightly to see it. "What's it doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Dunno." Gon replied, pushing himself up and walking over to it. "It says Adira Yamauchi on it, does that name ring any bells for you?" Killua's mind froze, but outwardly, all he did was frown.

"Yes, I think I know her." Killua said cautiously, standing up and walking over to where Gon stood. "Let me see?" Gon handed the notepad over to the mercenary, and Killua flipped through a few of the pages._ This is definitely hers, same handwriting, even the conversation we had this morning is on here. But…_ Killua's eyes narrowed._ What was it doing out here?_ The mercenary's piercing blue eyes gave the clearing a closer look. _There were signs of a fight here. Nothing too serious though. Did she get kidnapped? Did one of the hunter candidates she was spying on harm her?_

"... Killua?" Gon's voice snapped him back to reality.

"Yes?"

"So, is it hers? And why is it doing all the way out here?"

"Ah, Adira has strange hobbies." Killua lied smoothly. "She likes taking walks in the forest. Really long walks in the forest."

"Do you know where to find her?" Gon asked, tilting his head innocently. "We should return it, she might be worried."

"I don't know where she is right now, but I can always hold onto it and give it to her later." Killua replied, eyebrows furrowing in thought. "Although I wonder how she lost it, she usually always keeps it buried deep inside her pocket." _Although._ He added as a bit of an afterthought. _If she was attacked, she might've been knocked around a bit more, and the notebook could've fallen out mid fight and she could've never noticed._

A grumbling stomach interrupted his thoughts, and Killua looked up at Gon, only to see the boy giggling at him. Face flushing slightly pink, he suddenly realized how hungry he was.

"Should we head back now?" Gon suggested. "Leorio and Kurapika must be bored out of their minds by now. Well, more Leorio than Kurapika."

"Hopefully my room isn't in ruins when we get back." Killua added, pushing the thought of Adira to the subconscious part of his brain. "Although as long as my bed stays intact, I'll be perfectly fine."

She would hopefully be fine on her own, right now, Killua had other things to attend to.

**~A~**

After going to the hotel Killua had notified her that he was staying in, she managed to get Killua's room number from the receptionist, and walked up to the third level. Adira had knocked on the door, waited longer than what you normally had to wait for doors to open, and was about to berate Killua for not meeting at the intended place, when she came face to face with a blonde. Blinking, Adira apologized, thinking she had knocked on the wrong room and was about to walk away and find the correct, when the older, feminine looking, although clearly male looking had told her it was indeed Killua's room, just that he had left.

"So he doesn't meet at the harbor, and isn't even at his own room?" Adira grumbled underneath her breath. Deciding to check back later, she had excused herself and promptly left, deciding to head back to her own room. Waving a brief farewell to the receptionist, she left the hotel.

"Fresh food for sale! We've got anything and everything from delicious fruits to nutritious meat! How 'bout you there young lady, you want to buy something to eat?"

"Jewlery! Get your jewelry here! We've got all sorts of precious minerals, from diamonds, to pearls, to protection stones! Young miss, would you like to buy one? Or for a friend, perhaps? They make great gifts!"

Adira's eye twitched, as yet another salesperson called out to her. Did she honestly look that easy to swindle? Stuffing her hands deep into her coat pocket, she walked slowly through the streets, trying to push through the mass amount of people that had gathered around to buy goods from the merchants.

"Shouldn't have taken the main road." Adira sighed, carefully making her way through a group of girls that had gathered in awe in front of a jewelry stand. "Too many people." Wading through the crowd, Adira managed to break out of flow of people and turn onto one of the smaller, less populated roads. Blinking, she tried to remember the layout of the city that she had memorized the day before.

"This city is basically built in a square like shape, I'm in quadrant four, the hotel is in quadrant twelve…" Looking up to the rooftops, Adira almost let out a sob. If only her muscles weren't in so much pain…

Shrugging it off, Adira continued to walk down the streets, ignoring the creaking and groaning of her joints.

"Ma, I'm really out of shape." She sighed, walking past a couple who was making out behind a pole. L_ike that was going to hide them_, Adira snorted, trying desperately to keep a straight face as she walked past, only to let a small 'pfft' slip past her lips. "I guess training isn't really all that bad of an idea…" Adira began picking up the pace, walking at more of a slow jogging speed, while still relaxing and letting her eyes lazily flick back and forth between the store names, seeing if there was anything of interest to her. _Yamanaka Flower Shop, Gildo's Toy Box, Binolt Salon, Knov & Books, Zepile's Weapons and Armory… I never realized how big the shopping district was here._

Adira stopped mid thought, and halted in the middle of the street.

Wait, did I just pass a store that sold weaponry?

Looking back, Adira blinked.

"Huh, I did." She stared blankly at the store, various blades hanging in the display window. "Should I go in?" Looking around for a clock, but finding none, Adira peered up into the sky instead. The sky had teasing tints of orange and pink, but otherwise, the sun stayed set high above the horizon. Time is plentiful, getting back to the hotel with no distractions will take fourteen minutes at most. Might as well see if there's something that I might want.

Before she could act on her thoughts, she heard rambunctious laughter ring out from her left, as three 'tough', ragged looking men stepped out from the alleyway between the stores, blocking her immediate path to the store. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shopkeeper of the store gulp nervously as he stared out the window, and men and women alike averting their gazes as they walked by. _Cowards._

"Hello little lady." One croaked, and the ginger girl tried not to wince at his cracking voice. "We were wondering if you could do us a… small favor."

"That depends on what it is." Adira replied with an even tone, rolling back onto the heel of her feet. "Although I do have someplace to be right now, so I'd appreciate it if you could leave me be." One of the men laughed, his bulky muscles rippling under his far too tight shirt, causing Adira to blanch slightly.

"You hear that Bloster, Welfin?" The man laughed. "Seems like we have a feisty one our hands today."

"Leol, stop laughing, we're wasting time." The third man interjected. "Now, if you don't resist, and come with us quietly, we won't cause you any harm."

"Aww stop being such a killjoy Welfin." Leol replied. "We have plenty of time, let's mess with her for a bit."

"If you want to go mess with a girl, go do it in your own spare time." 'Bloster' bit back sharply.

"Get her boys."

Adira sighed, slipping into a stance. _Why does this always happen to me? All I wanted to do was to look at some badass swords._ Grimacing, she dodged a few of their punches. _Now, do I remember the vital hit points?_

Adira stared at the three motionless bodies on the ground.

"Huh." Her eyebrows furrowed together. "They were a lot weaker than Bodoro. It was a lot easier than expected." Sticking her foot out and nudging their faces, she contemplated whether or not she should tie them up. The storekeeper of Zepile's Weapons and Armory promptly burst out the door and into the streets.

"Thank you so much!" He cried, grabbing ahold of Adira's hands, causing the girl jolt and stare vacantly at him. "I don't even know how to express my gratitude, those thugs have been scaring away my customers for weeks. Please, come inside!" Adira only let out a small 'what', as she was dragged away by the ginger shopkeeper.

"My name is Zepile!" The storekeeper introduced himself, pointing his thumb at himself in an overly dramatic manner. "What's yours?"

"Adira." Adira replied simply, standing stiffly in the midst of all of the weapons. Her hands itched to grab onto those, to even try them.

"Noble, huh? How fitting." Zepile grinned, causing the girl to smile back. "I must ask though, are you a martial artist? You defeated those thugs with ease."

"Ah, not really. I've been trained in fighting in general, if that's what you mean." Adira answered, eyes widening in awe as she soon realized the size of the store, and the mass amounts of different weapons and armor that were splayed out everywhere. "You have a huge variety of weapons here. The store looked so small from the outside."

"You think so?" Zepile grinned. "I made most of these things myself. I've never been much of a fighter, just a maker. A blacksmith."

"Creation over destruction?" Adira offered, walking up to a mounted longsword. "May I touch these?"

"Of course!" Zepile said, walking over and unlatching the sword and handing it to the girl. "How does it feel?" Adira took a few steps back to give herself more room and as to not accidentally impale Zepile. Rotating her wrist, she tested the weight of the blade, taking a few experimental swings and jabs. Sighing, she handed the weapon back to Zepile.

"It's no use. No matter how much I want it to happen, swords just don't match me."

"Well, don't try to force a weapon onto yourself!" Zepile said, placing the sword back onto the wall. "Even if I don't know much about actually using them, I do know that everyone just has different preferences, and leans towards different styles." Adira seemed to consider this thoughtfully, as she peered thoughtfully around the room.

"What weapon do you think I'd be best suited for?"

"You?" Zepile asked, frowning thoughtfully as he examined the girl. "Well, you have a really small and petite looking frame, so broad swords, axes, spears, or anything of that sort is not an option. You look like you're built for speed, so something like a sickle, daggers, chains, or something lightweight. There's something that fits you perfectly, the name is just on the tip of my tongue…" Adira tried not to twitch at the 'petite' comment.

"But I'd prefer something with more range. Light, and with range. But no bow and arrows, because I can't shoot to save my life." Adira added. Zepile snapped his fingers in realization.

"That's what I was thinking about!" He cried triumphantly. "A naginata! Let me go get one for you." He scampered off amongst the racks of blades, clinking and clanking could be heard as he wandered the shop. He reappeared back with a long wooden pole with a deadly blade at the end. Adira took it from him, shocked at the lightness as she tossed it lightly up and down.

"Wow." She commented. "I expected this to be a lot heavier than it actually is. It's really long and light too. Easy to swing around." Saying that, she did an experimental twirl with the stick, causing Zepile to yelp in alarm and duck down, the naginata barely missing the top of his head. Adira apologized sheepishly.

"Naginatas don't sell very well, because they're usually looked down upon as something women use to defend themselves with." Zepile began explaining, letting Adira marvel over the naginata. "But if you trace it back far enough in history, it's been used by the strongest of leaders, and the best of generals. When a naginata is mastered, long range attacks are insanely powerful, mid range attacks which focuses on rotation, can be used to disarm, while short range is good for blocking. The best thing about a naginata is it's ability to adjust to almost any style there is. At least, that's what I've been told."

"Wow, that really does sound perfect." Adira said breathlessly, before a realization hit her. "But, I'm taking the Hunters Exam in a week, I won't be able to master it by then."

"You're taking the hunters exams? Well, you learn something new everyday." Zepile asked, scratching at the back of his head. "Anyway, a week won't be enough to master the naginata, but you can definitely solidly get the basics down and some special techniques. Unless you run into an actual naginata master, I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"I'll take it!" Adira said firmly, beginning to reach for her money. "How much?"

"5,000 jenny." Zepile answered. "But I insist you only pay 2,500, think of it as a gift." Pulling out the change, Adira handed it to the shopkeeper, before firmly shaking his hand. _As much as I feel like I'm taking advantage of this man... what can I say? I'm a total cheapskate._

"Thank you so much Zepile-san." Adira grinned. "You've been a great help."

"No problem!" Zepile grinned back, flashing the girl a thumbs up. "Feel free to come back at any time to visit, it gets quite lonely in here."

"I will." Adira replied, stealing a quick glance outside. "I'd love to stay longer, but my hotel's on the other side of the city, and it's getting quite late…"

"Not planning on holding you back." Zepile said, holding the door open for the girl. "Have a good day Adira!" The girl turned her head slightly, giving the man one last backwards wave before she dashed away on the streets, naginata in tow.

**~K~**

"Killua, which restaurant do you think we should go eat at?" Gon asked, excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet as the two boys made their way through the halls of the hotel.

"I don't really have any good suggestions." Killua said thoughtfully. "I've only been here for two days, and most of the time I was eating stuff I packed from home. The only time I actually went out to eat was this morning." The boy frowned. "Come to think of it, that's why I'm so hungry, I haven't eaten lunch."

"Ah, I haven't either." Gon said in realization, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head as his stomach gurgled in response. "Heh, I guess all that running made me really hungry." The conversation died down, Gon babbling on about random little things, as he followed Killua down the maze of corridors. As they reached the room, Killua retrieved a copper key from his pocket, inserting it into the lock and twisted it. The door clicked open, and Killua and Gon stepped inside.

"We're back!" Gon chirped, kicking off his boots, Killua closing the door behind them.

"Welcome back." Leorio replied lazily, leg hanging off the couch as he watched images flicker across the TV. Gon ran over to sit down on one of the couches next to him.

"Wow, have you not moved from that position at all this whole entire time we've been gone?" Killua drawled, raising a sleek eyebrow. "And where is… what was his name again? Oh, Kurapika." Leorio jerked his hand towards the bathroom.

"He locked himself in there." Leorio yawned. "Said that I was being too 'disruptive' for him to read his book." A muffled reply came from the bathroom, as Kurapika pushed open the door.

"You guys are back." The blonde said as a greeting. "Killua, someone came to find you while you were gone."

"Really?" Killua asked, frowning as he thought of the small number of people in the city who would try to contact him. "Strange. Who was it?"

"A girl." Kurapika deadpanned, as Gon snatched the remote from Leorio and switched the channels, causing the man to yell at him. "She said her name was Adira, ring any bells to you?" Gon looked up and away from Leorio,

"Adira?" He blinked. "Isn't that the name that was on the notebook we found?"

"Something you aren't telling us here, Killua?" Leorio smirked, as he snatched the remote back from Gon, drawing a yell of protest from the young boy. "Are you secretly seeing someone you haven't told us about?"

"If I was, that would be a low blow to you, seeing as how you're so much older yet you clearly aren't." Killua retorted sharply, causing the older man to splutter and complain that he could be, and that Killua wouldn't know. "But I'm not."

"Then what was she here for?" The Kurta questioned. "She seemed pretty livid when she knocked on the door."

"That's probably because I forgot to meet her at the harbor and instead brought you guys here…"

"So you two were planning on going on a date?" Gon asked innocently, causing the mercenary's head to snap up.

"No, you _baka_." Killua said, a hard edge in his voice. "We were just going to exchange information on the Hunters Exam." This caught the other three's attention.

"She's taking it too?" Kurapika asked, shocked. "But she looked so… delicate."

"Says the most feminine looking male here." Leorio snorted. "But I agree. Her, take, let alone pass the hunters exam? That's basically certain death for her."

"Aunt Mito-san said it's not nice to judge people by appearances." Gon frowned with a scolding tone. "Just because you look a certain way, does not mean you are like that." Killua immediately thought of himself, a bitter smile snaking onto his face as he listened to the banter around him. _Honestly._ He sighed mentally. _You guys are so trusting. You're even on the topic of people who look harmless but are extremely deadly. Can't you tell from the basic signs I'm dangerous? I'm a killer? Someone you shouldn't be around?_

"Killua, Gon, agree with me that Leorio is a boorish, uncultured swine!" Kurapika yelled, jabbing an accusing finger at Leorio.

"No, no, no. You two listen here." Leorio shouted, demanding the two's attention. "Kurapika here is a rude, obnoxious, no good brat that thinks he's better than everyone else."

"Let's not fight…?" Gon suggested weakly, putting his hands up in an attempt to separate the two.

"No Gon, I'm afraid that isn't possible anymore." Kurapika glared. "Unless this… pig here finally gets a taste of class."

"Pfft." Leorio spit. "Not unless this insolent being learns to use manners, and treat his elders with _respect_." Gon looked desperately over at Killua for help, the white haired boy rolled his eyes, consenting.

"Hey, it's almost..." Killua's eyes flicked over to the clock on the wall. "Six forty five. We should head out and eat something. Oi, watch it. You'll be paying for whatever furniture you break."

"I'm not heading out to eat _anywhere_ with this guy!" Kurapika and Leorio yelled in sync, pointing fingers at each other.

"You know." Killua said dryly, a smile creeping onto his face. "With the way you guys are talking, you sound like a married couple." That froze the two in their tracks.

"It's true!" Gon laughed. "Kurapika is the mother, who worries too much. And Leorio's the father that always yells for no reason whatsoever." Kurapika and Leorio remained frozen in shock. "Killua, I think we broke them."

"Ah, small details." Killua grinned back at Gon, twirling the room key around his finger. "Come on, we need to go eat. Food is calling to me." Gon saluted the boy, giggling all along as they dragged the still shock-shelled two out the door.

After dinner, the four had retired back to their room. Although, technically speaking it was Killua's.

"How are sleeping arrangements going to work?" Gon asked, helping Killua bring in extra pillows and sheets.

"The bed is mine." Killua answered almost immediately. "This is my room, you can not take my god damn bed away from me."

"No one's planning to." Kurapika assured him, taking his share of the pillows and blankets and setting them on one of the armchairs. "I'll sleep here."

"You're going to sleep sitting up?" Gon asked. "But that's really uncomfortable." The blonde just shrugged, continuing to set up his makeshift bed.

"I call this couch!" Leorio cheered, dropping down on the couch he had occupied most of the afternoon. Killua threw his pillows and blankets at him, a white pile of sheets cascading down on his head.

"Ah, I'll sleep on the floor then." Gon said, dropping his pillows and blankets onto the ground.

"Gon, it's fine." Killua said, jumping onto his large bed. "There's enough room up here for us to share." Rolling over to the side of the bed, Killua leaned over the edge and picked up Gon's stuff.

"Oh, so you'll share your bed with Gon, but not with us?" Leorio asked, dropping his suit coat in a messy pile at the foot of the couch. "I see how it is."

"Of course." Replied Killua, bouncing up and down slightly as Gon too jumped onto the bed. "Gon is special, and besides, no one wants to share a bed with you Leorio."

"Wouldn't it be couch?" Gon added, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Leorio, no one wants to share a couch with you."

"It's almost ten." Kurapika grumbled irritatedly, closing the lights in the room. "Go to sleep."

"But what if-"

"Just _go to sleep_."

Leorio's loud snores could soon be heard throughout the room, but Gon still tossed restlessly in the bed. Soon, the silence was beginning to kill him, and he turned to face Killua's back.

"Psst, Killua, are you awake?" Gon whispered.

"Yes." The boy mumbled tiredly in return. "Why?"

"I can't sleep." Gon complained, lifting his arms up before letting them drop back down, thudding against the bedsheets.

"Clearly." Killua said, turning over to face Gon and cracking open a blue eye. "That, or you're talking in your sleep."

"Say, Killua." Gon said. "How many days do we have left before the exam?"

"Well, technically seven more days, but you guys said you were leaving two days before it starts to get to the navigators right? So we have about five more days to do whatever we want."

"Ne, what do you think we should do tomorrow then?" Gon whispered, gold eyes lighting up with excitement.

"Eh, I sort of wanted to train a bit more for the Hunters Exams, be more prepare, you know?" Killua replied softly, scratching his head. "I think I might need to introduce you guys to Adira, just so I can use you guys as an excuse to not be yelled at." Gon laughed.

"Shh!" Kurapika hissed at the two boys. "Go back to sleep!"

"Sorry!" Gon whisper-shouted back. "We'll go to sleep now." And with that both boys turned away from each other, and all conversation ceased. The moon shone brightly above them, the stars twinkling gems in the sky, as they slept away the night.

**~A~**

Bright and early the next morning, Adira heated up some instant ramen, and pulled out her notebook to recopy the notes she had taken the other day on the other candidates.

At least, that's what she was _planning_ on doing, when she noticed that her notepad wasn't in her coat pocket anymore. Frowning, she checked all of the other pockets, making sure she hadn't misplaced it.

"Oh god, I dropped it during the spar didn't I?" The girl groaned in realization, plopping down on a nearby chair. "Well, I needed somewhere to practice the naginata anyway..." Picking up a spare sheet of paper and a pencil, Adira quickly began jotting down what she remembered from memory. Sketching some vague outlines of the people she had seen, Adira added a couple of extra notes on Bodoro.

The clock struck seven when Adira finally set down her pencil, satisfied with her rough sketches. They weren't the prettiest things in the world, but they'd have to do until she got her notebook back. Shuffling the papers into a neat pile, Adira pushed the chair out so she could get up, and went to retrieve her coat.

"Ah, I should probably go visit Zepile-san to see if there are any naginata teachers around here." Adira said to herself, picking up the naginata. "If not, then I'll probably just stick to conditioning and just getting used to using it. Just swinging around an overly large stick with a sharp end won't help me much in the exams." Opening the door and stepping out into the hallway, Adira unconsciously gave the naginata a spin, causing the long weapon to go crashing into the ceiling, creating a loud 'BAM', and leaving a dent.

Cursing, Adira looked up to the ceiling, watching as small pieces of it began cascading down onto the carpeted floor.

"At least it wasn't the sharp end." The girl winced, imagining how much disastrous that would have been. Hearing yelps of surprise and footsteps thudding up the stairs, Adira dashed down the hallway, pulling open the end window, and jumping out. "Hopefully they won't get too mad over that…"

When Adira landed in the alleyway, she herself didn't hurt or damage anything. However, her naginata did. She had twisted in mid air, landing so that she and her weapon could fit in the narrow alleyway, but instead of accidentally harming the buildings, Adira accidentally sliced straight through a trash can. Which just so happened to have a homeless man sleeping next to it. The man had jolted awake in surprise, and seeing a metal trash can that was cut in half along with a giant blade resting _right next to his head_, he screamed something unintelligible, throwing his arms back and running into the streets, drawing the attention of many passing by. Many people looked cautiously into the alleyway, most expecting to see tall, buff men who were beating up some poor stranger, only to find a girl with a very frail looking build kneeling in front of a shattered trash can, a long naginata made almost entirely out of wood lying next to her.

"God dammit I swear this is a weapon of mass destruction." Adira cried, falling down to her knees as she examined the split trash can and the blade of her weapon. "It has literally been one minute since I've left my hotel room, I've already dented a ceiling, sliced open a trash can, and scared the living daylights out of a homeless man."

Sighing, she picked up her naginata. _Should I take the streets or the roof?_ Adira pondered._ There are more people on the streets, but less chances of the naginata to get caught on the edge of the building or cut into things, but if I go on the streets and I accidentally cut apart someone's clothing…_ Adira's thoughts trailed off, her face blanching._ I'll take my chances with the roof._ Gathering her strength in her legs, Adira lept up, using the walls and the window ledges to boost herself up to the rooftops.

This time, making sure her landing space was clear and that there was no one or thing that she could possibly hit or destroy, Adira dropped down from the building, landing softly in front of Zepile's Weapons and Armory. Pulling the glass door open, Adira pulled her weapon through the threshold.

"Zepile?" The girl called out, stepping inside the shop. "Are you here?"

"Over here!" The man called back, as Adira heard banging and the sound of a roaring fire. "I'm a little busy, you can come into the back room if you'd like. Just be careful not to burn yourself."

Adira weaved carefully through the racks upon racks of deadly weaponry and armor, staring in both awe, and caution, just to make sure she didn't miss one and accidentally impale herself on it. Reaching the back of the store, she saw another door, albeit this one was propped wide open with a stone brick. Sparks flew out from inside the door frame, and Adira assumed it was Zepile's work room where he smelted metals.

Zepile glanced over his shoulder, as he raised a hammer above his head before slamming it back down on a piece of metal.

"Oh, it's you Adira. Hello." Zepile greeted turning back and resuming his work. "I thought you were a customer for a moment. What are you doing here?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I could be here to buy something too, you never know." Adira said, faking mild offense. "And you were the one who told me to come and visit, does anyone need a reason to visit a friend?"

"If you come marching in here at seven in the god forsaken morning." Zepile began, bending down and blowing into the fire to heat it up more. "Which by the way, is just not an okay time to go into a weapons store, and you're carrying your naginata, and you expect me to believe that you're not here with an ulterior motive?"

"Pretty much." Adira replied jokingly. "And besides, I wake up early. As long as you're open it is perfectly fine for me to walk in."

"Well clearly you have not heard of the blacksmith's conduct." Zepile said. "Help me toss some more coals into the fire."

"The what?" Adira asked, not hearing him over the loud banging and the whooshing fire. Setting her naginata against the wall, she picked up a shovel off the ground and grabbed a scoop from the pile of coal lying on the ground. Tossing it into the fire, she watched as the little black rocks fueled the flames, giving them a small burst of power.

"Blacksmith's law." Zepile repeated, giving the burning metal another slam with his hammer, causing sparks to fly off in all directions. "It's sort of an unspoken law though. Every blacksmith must always have an hour and a half of work time before they'll actually serve you. So even if my store opens at seven o'clock, that still means that most people won't come in until eight thirty."

"Well, I just need a quick favor from you." Adira promised, setting down the shovel back on the ground where she had found it. "Do you know any naginata teachers in town? I'm not going to be able to magically teach myself."

"Hand me the shovel please." Zepile asked, Adira bending back down to retrieve the tool and handed it to him. Offering a quick thanks, Zepile scooped shovels after shovels of dirt from another pile and threw it into the fire, extinguishing it. Leaving the metal to cool on the work table, Zepile turned around to face Adira. "Teachers? Not really. There's only one naginata master in town, and he's a clan head. Unless you can really impress him, he won't teach you."

"Well, it will be better than nothing." Adira said, following the shopkeeper out the stifling hot room. "Could you tell me where he lives? I'll go see if I can gain an audience with him later."

"Right. Let me go write it down for you. Do you have a map of the city? That'll make things a lot easier."

"Not on me, no. But I do have one back at my hotel room." Adira said.

"Excellent, that'll be much easier." Zepile rubbed his hands together, before brushing some soot off his face. "I actually need you to deliver something to him when you see him, is that alright?"

"Equivalent exchange." Adira said, amused. "Of course. Anything else you need help with?"

"I need a pen, and that's pretty much it." Zepile said, before catching the pen that Adira had tossed a him a millisecond later. "Although, you could make yourself useful and help me load some of those pieces of heavy armor over there into boxes."

"Wow, taking advantage of a physical laborer, I see." Adira joked, sticking her tongue out at him, as Zepile walked behind the counter to get some paper.

"You volunteered, don't start complaining now." Zepile retorted back, tearing out a lined sheet of paper out of a notebook and began scrawling words down. Adira walked over to the sections of armor, kneeling down next to them and beginning to move them. Muscles in her arms straining, she lifted the chestplate of a spiked, red, war-like armor into a box that was basically filled to the brim with styrofoam to make sure the armor didn't get damaged.

"Here you go." Zepile said, folding the paper into squares and giving it and the pen back to Adira as she loaded the helmet into the box.

"Thanks." Adira said, taking it and putting it in her pockets. "I'll finish putting this away."

"No problem." Zepile said. "I'll go get the thing I want you to deliver to him, give me a second." Grunting in acknowledgement, Adira pulled the boots into the box.

"What are these things made out of?" She grumbled, rubbing her left arm as she reached towards the joint plates. "They're even heavier than that broadsword, and that's saying a lot."

"Well, I did warn you they were heavy." Zepile commented offhandedly, reappearing from behind the racks of armor and weapons, a long pole shaped weapon bundled up in purple cloth in his hand. "Just close the lid, will ya? I have a cart in the back room, I'll move it later by myself."

"Right." Adira replied, bringing the metal lid up and over the box. Slamming it shut and making sure the clasps were on tight, Adira stood up.

"Wow, is that a naginata?" The girl asked, tilting her head up to see the top. "It's almost a whole foot longer than mine."

"Yeah, when I said master of the naginata, I meant master. He can basically take down 10 different fighters with different styles in less than 30 seconds. And to increase his power, he uses an even longer naginata." Zepile shuddered, handing the weapon across to the girl. "Yan Baian is a monster with this weapon." The door jingled, causing both Adira and Zepile to snap their gazes to the door, seeing a man walk in.

"Apparently no one cares about the blacksmith's law anymore." Zepile grumbled quietly, so only Adira could hear, dusting off his hands on his pants. "Sorry for not being able to help more."

"It's fine, I was heading out anyway." Adira said, picking up the two naginatas. "I'll be leaving then, bye."

"Yeah, bye." Zepile said halfheartedly, walking to the counter to prepare for the customer. "So, how can I help you today?" He asked the man. Their conversation died away as Adira walked out the door, reaching into her pocket with her free hand to examine the sheet Zepile had given her.

**~K~**

Killua naturally awoke long before the others. Waking up before the crack of dawn had been a habit that had literally been pounded into him, and even though he wasn't at home or anything, it wasn't something he was about to break soon. Slipping out of bed, he got dressed, and waited patiently. Or at least, as patiently as he could.

Not even twenty minutes later, Killua was in a plank position, absolutely bored and wondering if he should wake the others up. Drumming his fingers against the floor, he felt the pain beginning to seep in, and his eyes flicked to the clock. _Mah, only fifteen minutes since I've started planking… am I getting out of shape?_

Another few agonizingly slow minutes passed, and Killua decided he had had enough. Rolling out of the plank position, he quietly tiptoed to the bed, he began lightly shaking Gon.

"Pst! Gon!" The white haired boy whispered, desperate for some sort of company or entertainment. "Wake up!" Gon grumbled, and rolled over onto his side, trying to get away from Killua's prodding. "Gonnnn." Killua persisted, continuing to poke the boy's back. The boy didn't wake up, instead curling up further into a ball. Killua decided to take drastic measures. Climbing onto the bed so he could get closer, he reached towards Gon and began viciously tickling him. The boy sprang awake, not even knowing what was going on, and began thrashing back and forth, laughter pouring out of his mouth. Killua quickly slammed a hand over the boy's mouth, glancing quickly over his shoulders to see if Leorio and Kurapika had been awoken by the sudden noise. Leorio snored on, painfully oblivious to anything around him, while Kurapika stirred slightly, blankets rustling as he shifted in his sleep, but showed no signs of waking up. Killua let out a sigh of relief. Turning to a now fully awake Gon, that was still confused, Killua put a finger to his lip, before motioning to the sleeping figure behind him. Gon got the message.

"Ah, Killua." Gon yawned, keeping his voice at a whisper level. "Did you really have to wake me up like that? It's also not even six fifteen yet..."

"Well, you wouldn't wake up when I poked you, and I was getting bored…" Killua trailed off, watching as Gon rubbed the last bits of sleep from his eyes.

"Yosh, I'm awake now." Gon declared softly, pumping a fist into the air. "You want to go out on an adventure now? Or stay inside for a bit?"

"Well, before we do anything, you need to get dressed." Killua said dryly, pointing at Gon in his tank top and shorts.

"Right." Gon smiled sheepishly. "I'll go change, wait a second." With that, he had slipped out of bed, grabbed his clothes and snuck across the room to the bathroom, clicking the door shut as silently as possible. Killua sat crosslegged on the bed, staring at the clock, almost daring it to go faster, he watched the hands slowly tick forward, number after number, second after second. The bathroom door creaked open quietly again, as a fully clothed Gon reappeared, closing the door slowly behind him.

The streets were almost completely empty at six in the morning, so Killua and Gon had almost no trouble getting to 'The Greasy Spoon' in a few minutes. Gon greeted the waitress that was at the door politely, Killua just walking in behind him. Choosing one of the corner seats, Killua flopped down onto the squishy booth seat, Gon sitting down across from him.

"Hey Gon." Killua said, tossing a menu to him. "What do you want to eat? I'll pay."

"Ah, thank you." Gon said, catching the booklet, and beginning to flip through it. "Eto… maybe the Tamagoyaki. That sounds pretty good. You?"

"Eh, I had a waffle last time, so probably something different." Killua said offhandedly, scratching his cheek. "Probably Tsukemono Pickles."

The door jingled open, and Killua lazily lifted his eyes up to the door, Gon turning around slightly to look over his shoulder. Killua would've been surprised to see Adira, but given the fact that this was the store that the hunters exam was being held in, he supposed it was reasonable for her to come here often to try to scout out the way in. Gon turned around, not recognizing her, while Killua tried to shrink and disappear into the corner, even with the knowledge that she would see him sooner or later. The store was really small after all, you could stand in the corner of the room and be able to see the whole store without straining your eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Killua saw the waitress say something to Adira, which he couldn't hear nor cared to try to, but he did see Adira's eyes flicker over to their seats and her left eye twitch violently. Watching her stalk towards them, Killua quickly averted his gaze and tried to pretend that he didn't currently see the silently fuming ginger that was walking towards them.

"So Gon." Killua began hastily, hoping for any sort of conversation that would get him out of this situation. "How do you-"

"Killua." Adira said, appearing next to their table, causing Gon to blink in surprise. "We need to talk."

"Ah, are you Adira-san?" Gon asked, grinning brightly. "Killua's told us a lot about you!" Adira's eyebrow raised at 'us' but she made no comment about it.

"Right. It's nice to meet you…?"

"My name is Gon. It's nice to meet you!" The spiky haired boy replied, soothing waves almost radiating off of him. Killua took this chance to bury his face in the menu book, making it seem like he was trying to chose something.

"It's nice to meet you Gon." Adira smiled genuinely at the boy. "Can I sit here? I need to talk to our dear… friend here."

"Of course!" Gon chirped, moving over to let Adira accommodate some space.

"So Killua." Adira started off pleasantly, sitting down in the booth, lacing her fingers together in front of her face. "Would you care to explain why you oh so kindly didn't rendezvous at the harbor and why you made no effort to find me for the _whole entire day_?"

"Well you see-" Killua began nervously, being cut off as the waitress walked over and asked for their orders. _Saved by the waitress again._ Killua grimaced. "I'll have some Tsukemono Pickles."

"I'll have the Tamagoyaki Omelette." Gon said brightly, smiling at the waitress, causing a faint pink stain to spread across her face.

"A-and you miss?" The waitress asked, diverting her attention from Gon's cuteness.

"Just water is fine." Adira replied evenly. "Thank you."

"No problem." The waitress bowed, heading towards the kitchen to get their orders. Killua just then noticed the two giant spear like weapons leaning against the wall besides Adira.

"Ah, what are those?" He asked, trying to change the subject, but miserably failing.

"A question for a question." Adira deadpanned. "I asked first, Gon will back me up."

"Eh?" The boy in question blinked. "I will?"

"No, Gon, you've known me longer though." Killua protested, two can play at this game. "You'd back me up, right?"

"Um…"

"Don't think I don't know you're trying to change the subject. Answer the question." Adira snapped, barely looking up as the waitress brought their foods to the table. "Do not give me some crappy excuse like '_I got lost on the road of life_'."

"Ah, Adira-san, Killua brought us to his hotel room." Gon interjected, defending his white headed friend. "We didn't have a place to stay, so he offered to let us stay at his place."

"How… generous." Adira said, raising an eyebrow at the mercenary, highly doubtful he would do that out of a kind heart.

"I accidentally ran into one of his friends, and I found out that they were taking the Hunters Exams as well." Killua lied smoothly, slipping information on what had happened to Adira. "And they had no place to go, so I offered to let them stay over."

"I see..." Adira trailed off.

"So, Adira-san." Gon asked, taking a bite of his omelette before pointing to the sticks next to to her. "What are those?"

"Ah, these?" Adira said, putting a hand on the naginatas. "They're naginatas. When Killua here decided not to meet up, I decided to occupy my time by finding a good weapon."

"Are two really necessary?" Killua asked, pointing to the one covered in cloth. "Because naginata users only carry around one. It's horribly hard to try to control two long sticks at once. So unless you're not actually using a naginata, I don't see why you're carrying both around."

"I'm making a delivery for the shopkeeper to a naginata master." Adira said. "And because I need to somehow convince the person I'm delivering this to to teach me."

"Eh, there's a naginata master around here?" Gon asked, excited as he bounced lightly in his seat. "Ne, Adira, can we go with you? Killua and I have basically nothing to do today, so…"

"Sure." The girl shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"Hey, Adira, what's the name of this master?" Killua asked, stabbing another unfortunate pickle that was on his plate.

"Yan Baian. Why?" Adira replied, taking a sip of her water. And if it wasn't so painstakingly out of character for him to burst into laughter, Killua would've. Instead he settled with a smirk and a loud snicker.

"What's so funny?" Gon asked, looking to Killua, and then to Adira who bore the same confused face.

"Well, you see, I've met him before on one of my… family expeditions. I'm sure he'd love to train you if I put in a _kind_ word for you."

"Please be diplomatic." Adira deadpanned, knowing what he was implying. "No blackmailing, maiming, or any threatening of that kind."

"Ah, Killua, you wouldn't do that right?" Gon said, stuffing another bite of his food into his mouth.

"Of course not." Killua smirked, this however did not reassure the girl sitting across from him.

"Killua let's be honest here." Adira said. "Because if you're going to scar the person I want to make a good impression on, I'm not taking you with me."

"But I already know where he lives." Killua pointed out triumphantly. "So you can't really stop me from doing so.

"But Killua, if you scare him too much he probably won't be able to train Adira that well." Gon pointed out.

"Yan Baian, scared of me? Please, he's a lunatic." Killua almost laughed, as he dropped a few more pickles into his mouth. "When we met him, he was barely intimidated by my father. And trust me, my father is an insanely scary man. He's always drunk and carries around a sake jug all the time, so that might also be it."

"Being drunk does not mean you can beat him senseless and not care." Adira said. "If he has to bear with the consequences of a hangover, you don't have to add to his pain and misery."

"Violence isn't always the answer to everything." Gon reminded, setting down his fork on his now empty plate.

"Alright, I get it." Killua said in exasperation, throwing his hands up. "I won't harm him."

"Physically or mentally." Adira added, spotting the loophole Killua had left in his promise.

"Right mother, Killua will be a good boy. There's no need to worry."

"See that you do. You'd be a horrible child, I pity your mother."

"What? Lies. Gon, tell her I'd be a wonderful child."

"But Killua." Gon said innocently. "Aunt Mito-san told me not to lie." There was a split second of shock on Killua's behalf that Gon would betray him, as Adira burst out into laughter. Gon turned towards the girl, and gave her a bright smile. This caused Adira to stop her rambunctious laughter, instead staring intently at the boy.

"Wait, Gon, smile again." She demanded, garnering strange looks from both boys. Gon complied. "Gon, would your last name just so happen to be Freecss?"

"Yes." Gon blinked. "How did you know?" Adira facepalmed, groaning. Killua decidedly ignored this conversation and went back to his food.

"I'm such an idiot." Adira sighed. "You look _exactly_ like Ging. Except just friendlier in general, and not stupid enough to wear a hat and a scarf everywhere you go. And your hair, even the eyes… Oh my god how did I not notice immediately?"

"Because you're an idiot. You even said so yourself." Killua replied evenly, shoving the last three pickles into his mouth.

"You knew Ging?" Gon asked, getting even more excited. "How?"

"Ah, it's a long story… One I can tell you at a different time." Adira said, a tad bit hesitant, before she noticed that Killua was tapping his fingers impatiently on the table, eyes flickering constantly to the clock. Using this as an excuse, she said. "So, do you think we should leave now? Killua looks awfully bored."

"Damn right I am." The white haired boy sighed, drawing out the words to emphasize his apathy.

"Ah, Killua, Aunt Mito-san said it's not nice to swear." Gon reprimanded, standing up along with the other two, Killua only grunting in acknowledgement. The mercenary dropped the pay for the meal on the table as Adira reached for the two naginatas.

"Have a nice day." The waitress bowed them out, holding the door open for them.

"You too." Gon and Adira chorused, following the white haired mercenary out the door.

It had been significantly later in the day than when the three had left their own rooms, so the streets were once again flooded with people. The moment they had stepped outside, and Adira had laid eyes on the commotion, she instantly shrunk and tried to sneak into an alleyway.

"You know, you look really suspicious right now." Killua pointed out, him and Gon following the girl into the dark alley.

"Are you kidding? This is the capital of Yorbian, like a little girl carrying two long naginatas is going to seem suspicious to anything or anyone. A group of thugs are a resistance band is what you would call suspicious. We're three teenagers for crying out loud."

"Why are we in an alley though?" Gon asked. "Wouldn't it be better if we could actually be in a path that leads somewhere?" Killua patted Gon's shoulder, giving him a mischievous grin.

"You'll see soon, my friend." Killua grinned. "The wonders of traveling by rooftops."

"Eh?" Gon asked, completely confused, his face becoming one like a confused puppy.

"Onward!" Killua declared flatly, as he jumped up to the rooftop, using the walls to bounce off of, Adira following closely after him.

"Come on, Gon." Adira called, perching at the edge of the roof. "Are you just going to stand down there all day?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Gon replied, crouching, before leaping straight up into the air, pushing off a wall he landed neatly next to Killua and Adira. "Wow… the view is amazing up here."

"Isn't it?" Adira asked, shifting the naginatas to her other arm. "Traveling this way is much faster, more efficient, and just more fun."

"Want to race to Yan Baian's house?" Killua asked, shifting from one foot to another, clearly wanting to get some action.

"But I don't even know where it is!" Gon protested. Killua only stuck out his tongue at the boy, as Adira tossed him a crumpled up piece of paper.

"Five minutes to get ready." Adira grinned. "Killua and I will both take a naginata since we have an advantage."

"You're only saying that because you don't want to carry both by yourself."

"Pshaw, I have no idea what you're talking about."


	6. Spoons, and more Filler

**I'm going to be honest here, this chapter is mainly crack, and filler. In other words, most of this was written during November extremely late at night when I could barely see what I was typing.**

**On the bright side, the Hunters Exams will finally start next chapter.**

**This is killing me, I really want to get straight to the plot, but I can't skip what happens during the hunters exams, it's... sort of crucial to the plot and character development.**

**Who am I kidding I can't write character development, character development is hard.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 - Spoons, and More Fillers<strong>

A traditional Japanese home stood in the middle of the busy district, it's beautiful cherry blossoms swaying in the wind. Two stoic looking guards stood by the rough, wooden door, lazily letting their eyes scan the crowd that was passing by. They weren't paying all that much attention to their surroundings, and so, when a white, green, and orange streak dashed over their heads and into the house they were supposed to be protecting, they never looked up.

The three landed in the empty courtyard, Killua straightening and quickly checking for any guards.

"Yes! I won~" Gon chirped, pumping his fists into the air.

"What, no you didn't." Killua said, almost shocked. "Are you kidding me? I beat you two by a _mile_."

"Killua if you had actually beaten us by a mile then we wouldn't even be here yet." Adira pointed out. "Besides, I'm pretty sure we arrived at the exact same time."

"Please." Killua scoffed, mockingly sticking his nose into the air. "As if you two are good enough to tie with me."

"We are though." Gon grinned. "And besides Killua, since Adira said we all arrived at the same time, wouldn't the win automatically be mine because you two both already knew where this place was?"

"But we were both carrying naginatas." Killua complained, now handing the weapon back to Adira.

"Gon, we gave you five minutes to examine the map I drew you, you have no excuse." Adira rolled her eyes at the two's banter.

"Small details." The spiky haired boy replied, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Shh." Killua hushed them. "There are two guards right outside the gate, and probably some inside the house as well. Don't blow our cover."

"You make it sound as if we're infiltrating this house." Adira rolled her eyes again. "We're here to deliver something to him, not invade his home."

"Don't ruin my fun." Killua grumbled, crouching down behind a bush. "Come on, it'll be more entertaining!" Gon immediately dropped down next to the boy, Adira soon squatted down next to them, more out of necessity than anything.

"If we get caught the blame goes automatically on Killua." Adira interjected immediately, not taking 'no' for an answer.

"If you two get caught." The mercenary grinned. "Like I would let some amateur guards catch me."

"We'll see about that." Adira smirked, exchanging a glance with Gon, causing the boy to send a sly grin back.

The three teens perched on top of one clan traditional japanese styled roofs, as Killua peered off the edge, clearly not noticing the close proximity the other two had attained while he wasn't paying any attention.

"Argh, the security here sucks, I haven't seen a guard in a good ten minutes." The mercenary frowned. "This isn't even fun any-" Adira and Gon pushed simultaneously with all of their might, catching Killua with surprise and causing the white haired boy to fly over the edge of the roof.

To anyone else that was around, several loud crashes and a curse was heard at one end of the clan district, causing several guards to look towards the direction. Brushing it off as one of the people training, they went on their way.

"I am going to kill you." Killua hissed from his position on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of leaves. "Okay, maybe just severely maim you, but I will hurt you."

"Aww, such a shame." Adira snickered, crouching next to a Gon that was desperately trying to hide his giggles but failing miserably. "Gon, no one even came running to check what was going on. Are the guards really that inadequate?"

"Gon, I thought you were my _friend_." Killua put emphasis on the last word. "You're not supposed to help her push me off."

"Sorry Killua!" Gon apologized, guilt overtaking him as he rubbed his head. "But it was funny, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was." Killua said. "If it had been Adira that had been pushed over the edge."

"At least you landed." Adira added, still snickering at the boy. "It would've been embarrassing if you had just landed head first into the bushes."

"Shut up. Let's actually go find Yan Baian now."

"Hai!" Gon saluted, a wide grin set on his face.

"You're just saying that because you want to change the subject." Adira accused, pointing a finger at Killua as he lept up to the rooftop. Killua responded by lunging forward and attempting to bite it.

"I'm getting bored of sneaking around. It's hardly challenging at all."

"So we can finally get to what we were supposed to be doing this whole time?"

"More or less." Killua replied, lifting his shoulders in a nonchalant attitude.

"And all it took was for you to get pushed off a building for you to agree." Adira remarked dryly.

"Oh shut up." Killua said. "Do you two see any giant buildings with the clan symbol right smack dab in the middle, or a large building surrounding a giant, fancy looking courtyard?"

"Isn't that the building we're currently standing on?" Gon pointed out, rapping his knuckles lightly against the tiled roof. "You two were too busy arguing who would get the blame if we got caught to pay attention to our surroundings."

"If I remember correctly, you were participating in that argument too." Adira shot back, as the three of them climbed to the top of the roof to examine the layout of the house.

"But at least I was paying attention to my surroundings!" Gon stuck his tongue out playfully, causing Adira to lunge forward and attempt to pinch it. "Hey!" The boy protested, covering his mouth in defense. "Ma, you guys are so mean."

"Killua tried biting my finger." Adira shot back.

"And you two actually shoved me off a building."

"Well, I guess karma for all of us…?"

**/line break**

"Ne, Killua, Gon." Adira whispered, keeping low as the three watched the people spar. "What do you say we crash their little sparring session?"

"Couldn't have agreed more." Killua smirked, causing Gon to shake his head at his two havoc causing friends. Albeit he had just met Adira a hour or so ago. "Here's the plan, Gon, you'll jump down first and create an absurd amount of dust that will obscure everyone's view. During that time, Adira will grab whoever's losing and get out of the way, while I'll do something about the winner." Adira muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'glory hog' underneath her breath, but looked away innocently and shuffled closer to Gon when Killua glared at her.

"Gon help he's planning on murdering me." Adira said, shirking away from Killua. "And besides, what makes you think I can drag around a man that's probably twice as heavy as me?"

"Guys, the fight is close to ending." Gon warned them, pointing towards the spar that was happening in the middle of the courtyard. "Is the fighting guy that's winning Yan Baian?"

"No. Not even remotely close." Killua snickered, as he got into a ready position, prepared to take off at any moment. "See that blonde guy sitting in that chair with the large sake battle? That's Yan Baian."

"Are you kidding me?" Adira sighed, exasperated. "You cannot be serious. That's the head of the Tengen naginata style?"

"Dead serious." Killua snickered. "Gon, you first. Whenever you're ready." The green haired boy smiled at the two, giving a peace sign.

"Wish me luck." Gon grinned, before flitting out into the open. Adira and Killua tensed, ready to do their part of the plan when Gon had created the adequate distraction.

The dust storm Gon had made by crashing into the ground with something extremely heavy (they weren't even sure where or what the thing Gon made that cloud with) encased the fighters, causing many onlookers to startle, standing up in surprise at the sudden intervention. Yan Baian, amidst all the chaos, was still sitting there, naginata in hand as he took another chug out of his sake bottle.

Killua and Adira dashed into the dust without a thought.

"Ohhh~" Yan Baian slurred, clearly intoxicated. "What's this? It seems there's some intruders."

"Okay, so maybe that was too much of a flashy entrance." Adira mumbled, dropping the man she had pulled out of the way so that he wouldn't accidentally have been hit by Killua trying to 'restrain' the other man. "I'm regretting bringing up that idea. Should we have used the diplomatic way?"

"Eh heh, probably." Gon laughed nervously, sitting atop a good sized chunk of rock he had clearly used to make the dust cloud. "Ah, we're… sorry for crashing your sparring match?" Sharp, deadly naginatas were instantly pointed at the trio.

"Identify yourself." One of them bit out harshly. "Why are you here?"

"Mah, you guys have no sense of humor." Baian drawled, standing up, and giving a sweeping gesture to the other men. "Naginatas down. I recognize one of them. So, Killua-san, what a pleasure it is to see one of you after so long."

"It is a pleasure to see you as well, Baian." Killua inclined his head slightly in a small show of respect. "It has been quite a long time hasn't it."

"About 5 years if I remember correctly." The older man laughed, swishing the sake in his jug. "Come, let us discuss your unexpected meeting inside, where we can get more sake. You four there, clean this up."

"H-hai sir!" Four of the men who had been pointing naginatas at the teens saluted, before scrambling to go get brooms to clean up all of the debris.

"Follow me please." Yan Baian said, turning to walk into the building. Slightly confused on the sudden turn of events, Adira and Gon followed, Killua striding in smugly like he owned the place.

Soon, they were all kneeling on cushions around a traditional japanese table. Tea was brought to them, while the servants went and refilled Baian's jug with more sake.

"To what do I owe this surprise?" Baian asked, a wide smile plastered on his face as he set down his beer jug. "I haven't had contact with your family for years. Is there something urgent?"

"You could say that." Killua stated blandly, ignoring the steaming cup of fragrant green tea in front of him. "I am actually in need of a favor."

"For family business or for your own gain?"

"Not even mine." Killua replied, enjoying the slightly perplexed look on the clan leader's face. "I need you to train one of my… friends in the art of the naginata."

"I do suppose that would be the female, she is the one carrying the naginatas after all." Baian mused. "Say, might that happen to be the naginata that I ordered from Zepile?"

"It is." Adira replied calmly, handing the bundled weapon across the table, careful not to bump into anything. "Zepile-san asked me to deliver this to you."

"So you are acquainted with him as well. Then you must've gotten that weapon from him as well. Excellent, I won't have to worry about your weapon not being able to withstand attacks." As he was saying this, he stood up and unwrapped the weapon. Adira sat on her knees in front of him, on high alert. Killua dragged Gon off to the side, well aware of the danger the seemingly harmless drunkard posed. He did a few experimental swipes with it off to the side, and then he turned towards the girl.

"One attack." He said, pointing the naginata straight in front of him. "If you can survive one attack from me, I will train you." Adira stood up hesitantly.

"Do I have to take the attack, or am I allowed to dodge?" The girl asked, keeping a close eye on the sharp blade currently pointed at her head. She'd seen first hand what damage that weapon could do… that poor unfortunate trash can.

"Dodge of course. I don't think even the strongest opponent can survive having their head cut open after all. However, you are not allowed to use your naginata." Baian said. "I will not give you a warning as to when I attack. We begin now." Adira made no move to move from her current spot, but she held her naginata loosely at her side, her leg muscles tense and prepared to move at any moment.

"You can do it!" Gon cheered off on the sidelines. Killua made no symbol of supporting her, choosing instead to watch intentively. _If she survives, she should be whipped into good enough shape for the Hunters Exams. If not, well… then she was a waste of time anyway._ His lightning blue eyes diminished a bit. _He couldn't forget his mission purpose. He could indulge in this… 'friend' behaviour, but only as long as it didn't distract him…_

The two were now pacing in a circle, Adira made no move to bring up her weapon into a stance, and Baian still had the same smile on his face.

And then suddenly, he lunged forward, a wide slice aiming directly for her head. _Fast_. Adira thought, adrenaline rising as her leg muscles pushed her far, far back. _But is that it? There must be a trick._ Watching the naginata crash into the ground, she stayed tensed, until she felt a steady trickle coming down her nose.

"Wha-" Adira brought a hand up to her face, only to feel blood dripping down an open wound diagonally across the nose.

"You thought you'd dodged it, huh?" Baian smirked cockily, resting his naginata on his shoulder. "Though I admit, you're good, being able to escape my Sparrow with only a wound on the nose."

"Ah, Adira, are you okay?" Gon asked worriedly, rushing over with a napkin. "Ouch, that might leave a scar."

"That's fine." Adira replied softly, appreciative of his concern. "It's just a scar. Not like I'm going to die because of it."

"So, she passed?" Killua asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Of course." Baian chirped, giving the three a thumbs up. "As long as she didn't have her head cut open, I would be willing to at least attempt to whip her into shape. Although this just makes me excited. I look forward to teaching you." Stepping in closer, he ruffled the ginger's hair.

Killua burst out into laughter with Gon.

Adira looked completely affronted at having someone mess up her hair.

Killua added a mental note to do so whenever he wished to piss her off. After all, he was quite a few inches taller than the girl, so it shouldn't be too hard. Turning towards the giggling boy next to him, another grin spread across his face. _Sorry Gon, it's too late now. You've become a victim of the dreaded hair ruffling._ And promptly launched himself at the green haired boy, garnering a yelp of surprise from him and cries of indignation as he started ruffling the spiky strands of hair. He began cackling as Gon struggled underneath his hold.

"We'll begin today, immediately after lunch." Baian said to Adira, ignoring the laughing boys as Adira pressed the napkin Gon had handed her hard against her face to stop the bleeding. "Meet here twenty minutes after noon, make sure to eat lunch. You'll need it."

"Hai." Adira bowed at the waist, accepting a bandage from a servant and taped it over her nose. "Thank you for accepting me as your student."

"No problem~" Baian winked, picking his gourd back up and taking another swig from his sake. "I have no qualms against training a cute little girl like you. How long will you be training under me?"

"Well, a week tops." Adira replied, her voice strained as she tried not to let her eye twitched from being called 'little'. "I just need some sort of edge in the Hunters Exams."

"When I'm done with you, you'll have more than just a little edge for the Hunters Exams." Baian grinned widely. "Now scram, I still have to clean up the mess you brats left in my courtyard."

"But you forced your servants to go clean it up." Gon pointed out, still struggling to defend his head from Killua.

"But I have to deal with the political backlash of your pleasant little prank. Clan councils are total bitches about everything."

"Man, you don't even know Gon." Killua sighed, letting go of the boy. "Our family doesn't even have a council, and yet small disputes raise political storms." Gon blinked owlishly, making a thoughtful face.

"Well then we should probably leave now…"

"Yea, you think Kurapika and the old man will be awake by now?" Killua grinned, shoving a hand into his pocket as he helped Gon off the ground.

"Probably." Gon chirped cheerfully, as Adira walked over to the two. "Is Adira coming with us?"

"Most likely." Adira responded for the boy. "Killua and I still need to exchange some… notes."

"Notes on what?" Gon asked.

"The Hunters Exams." The girl answered guardedly, her eyes flicking to Killua's to see if it was alright to tell him. Seeing the boy tilt his head down in a sign of consent, Adira relaxed.

"Eh?" Gon blinked. "How would you take notes on the Hunters Exams? I thought it changed every single year?"

"Notes on the candidates Gon." Killua interjected finally, resting an elbow on the boys shoulder as if to taunt the fact that he was taller. "We were scouting out our competition."

"If you want to have a pleasant conversation have it outside my house." Baian smiled in fake pleasantry, as he began pushing the three out the door with the blunt end of his naginata. "Being caught won't help you much in the exams now would it?"

"You never know, sensei." Adira replied haughtily, amusement dancing in her eyes. "After all, it would train our ability to escape, would it not?"

"Stop being a smartass and get out before I decide to change my mind about training you."

**~KL~**

Kurapika yawned, stretching as he opened his eyes. Strange, was he sitting up? Did he fall asleep while reading or - blinking owlishly he remembered he had slept on the armchair in Killua's room. Leorio's loud snores suddenly became much louder, as the blonde Kurta contemplated whether or not he should kick the man awake just so he would stop making that insufferable noise. Feeling awfully generous however, he pulled the blankets off of him, folding them neatly and stacking them on the chair, he looked at the clock.

"Strange." Kurapika mumbled. "It's nearly eight o'clock, and Killua and Gon still haven't woken either of us up yet." He then spotted the empty bed, along with the messy covers on top of it. Sighing, he rolled his eyes at the boys. "Why do I feel like I'm the only responsible one around here?" He began smoothing out the wrinkles in the sheets, pulling the covers into place. A loud thump behind him caused him to turn around in alarm. Rushing over to the sofa, he looked over the edge, only to see Leorio completely tangled up in his blankets half of his body fallen off the makeshift bed. Sighing, and deciding that it was time for Leorio to wake up anyway, he pushed the man off of the sofa entirely.

Leorio kept snoring, curling up as he clutched the blanket closer to him, clearly not even recognizing the fact he was now sleeping on the ground.

Kurapika moved to throw a pillow at him, when the door slammed open.

"We're ho-" Killua began to announce, before noticing Kurapika holding the pillow over his head, and the slumbering man on the floor. The boy smartly began backing out the door, closing it behind him.

"Killua why are you backing up?" Gon's voice rang out.

"Killua that is not the proper etiquette to get into rooms. You're supposed to walk into the room first. Not back out." Another voice Kurapika didn't recognize said blandly. The door clicked shut, muffling any further conversation they made. Kurapika stared at the shut door for a few seconds, not sure if he should open the door, or continue on with what he was planning on doing.

He went with the latter.

"MMPH!" Leorio snapped awake, a pillow currently being smushed into his face "Cut it out!"

"Ah, you're awake." Kurapika remarked dryly, removing the pillow from Leorio's face. "It's past eight. It's comforting to see you didn't die in your sleep." The door clicked open, this time, Gon stuck his head in.

"Is it safe to come in now…?" The green haired boy asked unsurely, before letting out a yelp of surprise as a force from behind shoved him into the room. Gon stumbled, regaining his footing just before he ran into a wall. Killua stepped in after him.

"Well?" Killua raised an eyebrow, turning his head to look back into the hallway. "Are you going to come in?"

"No, I'm just going to stand here in the hallway, staring at the pretty white that is the color of your door." The voice replied again. Leorio sat up, rubbing his back and something about irritating blondes. Kurapika wisely ignored him, instead choosing to greet his face with another pillow.

"Come on in Adira~" Gon chirped, dragging the unknown speaker into the room. "Kurapika and Leorio are awesome people, you have to meet them! They don't bite. Much." A ginger haired girl that Kurapika mildly recognized stumbled in, her arm still in Gon's grasp. Behind her she tugged in a long spear like weapon.

"Gon, please let go." She muttered, the boy dropped her arm, and she let it flop lifelessly to her side. She closed the door behind her, and set her weapon against the wall. Killua made his way over to the bundle on the floor that was currently Leorio.

"Hey, ossan, wake up." Killua said, kicking the man's limp body. "Don't be a lazy ass."

"Ah shut up, ya brat." Leorio growled, swatting halfheartedly at the mercenary. "I'm awake, not like there's anything to do today, might as well stay in bed. Not everybody is a pure bundle of energy like you two."

"Leorio, you're not even in bed. You're sleeping on the ground." Kurapika pointed out, as he leaned over the couch. "Besides, Killua and Gon brought someone back. You might want to set a good first impression."

"Unless it's a cute girl." Leorio growled, flopping onto his back. "I don't really care. Let me sleep my boredom away." Adira stood at the doorway awkwardly, not sure what to do, as Gon too walked over to the man. Killua stopped prodding his foot into Leorio's side and backed up to give Gon space. Gon knelt down next to Leorio's head, took a deep breath...

"LEORIO, WAKE UP!" Gon yelled, causing Leorio to wince and slap his hands to his ears.

"Okay I get it, I'm awake!" Leorio roared, sitting up and swiping at the boy. Gon quickly jumped away, landing next to Kurapika and used the couch as a shield. "Bastards. Gon, what was that for?"

"It was for tricking me into waking up by saying there wasn't any food left." Gon replied, sticking his tongue out at the man. Kurapika shook his head at their antics. "Besides, you have to meet Adira."

"Who?" Leorio asked, still not noticing the girl that was standing stiffly at the door. Adira shuffled her feet, kicking off her shoes.

"Definitely not the person that's standing over there or anything." Kurapika replied, rolling his eyes. "Get up and get dressed."

"Ah!" Leorio shouted in realization, pointing a finger at Adira. "You're the girl that came here yesterday!"

"Yes…?" Adira answered unsurely.

"It's nice to meet you." Kurapika bowed politely. "My name is Kurapika."

"I'm Adira." Adira bowed back. "It's nice meeting you as well."

"I'm Leorio." The man gave a sly grin. "Are you perhaps seeing our dear friend Killua here?" Killua glared at Leorio across the room, and barely restrained himself from throwing the nearby lamp at him.

"Are you kidding me? No thanks. I'm fine with not having a boyfriend that's unreliable and forgets to do a simple task like meeting up."

"I thought you were over that." Killua sighed. "When will you stop holding that over my head?"

"When something new that proves your incompetence comes up." Adira retorted, as Kurapika was hurriedly going around the room trying to pick up the bedsheets and clothes that were strewn all over the room.

"Ah, have a seat, it's a bit messy, but that's because none of the people here-" Kurapika shot a glare at the other three. "Decide to clean up their own messes."

"Nah, it's fine." Adira declined, walking up to stand near Gon. "I just need to exchange a couple of things with Killua, and then I'll leave. I need to be somewhere at noon."

"Ah, can we see the notes as well Adira?" Gon asked, turning his head to face the girl.

"Notes on what?" Kurapika asked, shoving a half dressed Leorio into the bathroom along with his clothes.

"We went to examine other Hunter candidates yesterday." Killua said, pulling open a shelf in his bedside cabinet, rummaging around in the contents.

"Hunter candidates... that means you two went to spy on us too." Kurapika's eyes narrowed.

"I guess you could say that. We mean you no harm though, no need to be so guarded." Adira shrugged. "I'm willing to share with you what I got on some of the other candidates with you guys."

"I suppose that would be... fair." Kurapika answered, sitting down in the armchair that had served as his bed for the previous night.

"Oh, I lost my notebook though, but I managed to copy down what I remembered onto a separate sheet of paper." Adira said, pulling a couple sheets of folded paper out of her coat pocket, sitting next to Gon on the longer sofa Leorio had slept on.

"Ah, Adira, Killua and I actually found your notebook when we were exploring the forest yesterday." Gon said.

"Yeah." Killua replied, finally pulling out a small orange notebook out from the drawer and tossed it at the girl. "We found it in the forest, care to explain what it was doing all the way out there?"

"Thanks." Adira caught the book and flipped through it's pages, making sure all of the contents were still there. "Well, it's a long story."

"We have time." Killua replied dryly, walking over to the ring of couches that the other three currently were sitting in. "You can explain."

"Well..." Adira started. "Someone I was following found out I was there, and he-" She was abruptly cut off as Leorio slammed the bathroom door open, sauntering out with his tie loosely hanging around his neck. He plopped down on the sofa next to Gon, causing Adira to scoot closer to the edge.

"What did he do?" Killua demanded, eyes narrowing.

"Nothing much, he just requested for a spar." Adira replied, flipping open the notebook to the pages that had sketches of the other candidates. Holding it up for the other five to see, she began to explain.

"So, these three are brothers, named Amori, Umori, and Imori respectively." She said, pointing to the three different men and the scrawled handwriting next to it. "They seem like veterans, hinting that they had taken the exams multiple times before. They apparently specialize in teamwork. They also mentioned something about a guy named Hisoka who looked like a jester, and that we should steer clear from him."

"Ah, I think he was one of the people on the ships that I had to go check out." Killua said. "Yeah, we should definitely steer clear from him. He just spells trouble."

"What." Leorio blinked. "What are we talking about?" Kurapika began filling him in on the details, as Adira flipped to the next page.

"So, there was a bowman and a swordsman that's most likely left handed. They came off of the same ship, and walked together for a while. I don't know if they're working together, and I didn't manage to catch any names either. But If they are a team, they should also be avoided. Teams that have long ranged and short ranged specialists are really hard to defeat, because they have basically all areas covered." Flipping to the next page, she pointed to a sketch of Bodoro. "This is Bodoro, a martial arts master that requested a spar with me. Do not engage a hand to hand combat fight with him unless you want to get decimated. He mentioned something about having a sparring partner named Gozu that's a spear user that is also taking the Hunters Exams."

Adira set the notebook down on the table, nudging it forwards a bit to let everyone else examine it.

"That's all I have." Adira concluded. "Killua was in charge of seeing you three and Hisoka."

"Ah, quick question." Gon said, raising his hand a little bit. "What does Hisoka look like? You didn't draw him out."

"Red slicked back hair, he's really pale, and wears a jester costume. He has a pink star on his right cheek and a light blue teardrop on his left cheek. Although I suppose that's a bit excessive on the detail." Killua answered, leaning on the couch Adira, Gon, and Leorio were sitting on. "He's unmistakable, you'll see what we mean. He literally looks like a jester."

"And he might be a pedophile." Adira added, almost as an afterthought. "He called you three cute when he told me that Killua brought you three here." Kurapika and Leorio had an shell shocked and disgusted expression, while Gon simply tilted his head like the cute puppy he was. Killua laughed at them, while Adira managed to hide her snickers by coughing violently.

"But would it still make him pedophillic if he called Leorio cute? Kurapika looks feminine enough, so I can see why he said that." Killua snorted, causing both men to snap awake, and glare at the boy.

"I am not that old!" Leorio yelled, tick appearing on his forehead. Gon and Adira scooted closer to the side to escape the man's fury as he began swinging everywhere and shouting insults at Killua. Killua ducked and dodged all of them, causing Leorio to be even more infuriated.

A loud growl stopped him in his tracks.

Everyone turned to stare at Leorio, as he laughed bashfully, instantly forgetting about hitting Killua.

"Well, it looks like someone is slightly hungry." Killua deadpanned.

"I'll go make something." Kurapika said, standing up and heading towards the small kitchen.

"There's food here?" Gon asked, confused. "But Killua and I checked the refrigerator earlier…"

"There's some instant ramen in the cupboards." Kurapika replied, pulling out two plastic bowls. "They were shoved all the way in the back behind the plates, so that's probably why you couldn't see."

"You sound just like a housewife right now." Leorio snickered, as Kurapika threw a spoon at him, barely missing. "Is it edible though?"

"They're not expired, if that's what you mean." Kurapika glared at Leorio, preparing another to throw another piece of silverware.

"Can I remind you that this is my room and that I'm consequently paying for all of the damage you guys do?"

"Is it normally this loud in here?" Adira whispered to Gon.

"Yeah." The boy laughed. "It's usually only Leorio and Kurapika fighting, but if Killua gets dragged into it..."

"Must be a pain."

"Not really." Gon grinned widely, crossing his legs. "Everyone gets really lively around here, so you usually never get bored!"

"EH?! What is this? It's not even noodles! It's all dried up!" Leorio cried, as he tore open the top to the ramen bowl.

"Are you an idiot?" Kurapika snapped, snatching the block of ramen out of his hands and tossed it back into the bowl. "It's called instant ramen for a reason, you put water in it, you heat it up, and you get noodles. You'd think by your reaction you'd never seen them."

"Well I haven't!" Leorio scowled, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry for never having seen these before!"

"It's instant ramen Leorio. Instant Ramen."

"Alright, alright I get the point!"

Killua leaned in between Gon and Adira, snickering loudly.

"Ne, they really do act like a married couple, don't they? They can deny it all the want, but just, look at their interactions."

"So… yaoi…?" Adira asked unsurely. "Or would it be Shounen Ai? It seems more like shounen ai to me..."

"What." Killua and Gon said in sync, both not sure what on earth the girl was talking about.

"Now that I think about it, you two would go well together too." Adira continued, motioning at the two boys. "More shounen ai? Or would it be more of a bromance?" Gon and Killua exchanged looks, giving each other a slight nod. Adira's own notebook was quickly shoved back into her face.

"Adira, could you draw Hisoka for me?" Gon said nervously, trying to divert the subject from whatever this 'shounen ai' was. "I'm curious as to what he looked like"

"But Killua already explained what he looks like to you…"

"But I want to see you draw! Your sketches were really realistic." Gon blurted out earnestly.

"Sure... " Adira trailed off suspiciously, bringing out her pencil. Killua hopped easily over the couch, and the two boys crowded around the girl. Her pencil moved slowly at first, drawing light, smooth lines. They began to connect together into a face shape, into hair, into eyes…

"Wow." Gon said. "He really does look like a jester."

"Mah, you drew the star on the wrong cheek." Killua pointed out, tapping at the paper. "It's on the right, not the left."

"Ah, sorry." Adira apologized, flipping the pencil over to erase it. Quickly fixing it, she gave it to Gon. "Good enough? I couldn't get a really good view at his face. Or more like I just didn't want to remember." Another utensil went sailing over their heads, abruptly cutting the conversation in half.

"Ah, looks like things are getting out of hand again." Killua sighed, shaking his head at the ruckus that was going on in the kitchen.

"I didn't know you even owned that many spoons Killua." Gon commented, as he watched Leorio and Kurapika chase after each other in circles. "Should we stop them?"

"Ah, leave them be, it's not like they can burn down the kitchen or anything." Killua dismissed, ducking another utensil. "Why is he only throwing spoons…?"

"Because spoons are clearly more efficient to maim people with." Adira drawled sarcastically. "It's not like there's a whole drawer full of them compared to knives or anything, you know."

"And you'd know because?"

"Do you not see that stack of spoons in his hands?"

"DUCK!" The three teens scrambled to climb over the couch, narrowly avoiding the barrage of spoons, although one still managed sail over and bounce harmlessly off of Adira's head. Killua would've snickered at her expense, if another hadn't flew over and landed on his head, before sliding off.

Gon was left to laugh at the other two's offended faces.

Leorio's cry of pain was heard from the kitchen, and they saw the man stumble over the couch, landing in a tangle of limbs in front of where Killua, Gon, and Adira were sitting. Quickly sitting up and pressing himself against the back of the couch, he ducked his head low, as to avoid being seen.

"Help me!" The man sobbed, small bruises everywhere. "He's out for my blood!"

A knife sliced through the air, embedding itself into the ground right in front of the three. The four gulped in sync.

After Kurapika had stopped feeling the urge to severely maim Leorio for his pig-headedness, everyone began to take the state of the hotel room into consideration.

"It looks like a battlefield." Kurapika blinked, his gray eyes seeing the amount of spoons that were scattered all over the room. "Why were there so many spoons in the first place?"

"Oh, so you're not even going to say anything about how you threw spoons at me for a good hour or so, and the fact that I'm covered in bruises?" Leorio demanded, motioning to the purple spots on his arms and knees that were beginning to swell.

"Whatever the reason was, that doesn't leave out the fact that there are spoons everywhere on the ground." Killua said, stepping lightly around the silverware laying scattered everywhere on the ground. "There isn't any room service in this hotel, so we can't even leave the cleaning to the hotel staff." He stared pointedly at the other four people currently standing amidst the silver spoons, as if expecting them to volunteer to help.

"Uh, I, uh, need to go to class with Yan-sensei soon." Adira said, backing towards the door.

"BS." Killua snorted, grabbing onto her hood and yanking her back to her previous spot, causing her feet to knock against some spoons on the ground and spin around. "It's not even ten o'clock yet, you're helping whether you like it or not."

"Ah, we could make a contest out of it?" Gon suggested, making a ring around him by pushing the silverware out of the way with his foot.

"There's no need to have a contest to get us motivated," Leorio huffed, crossing his arms as he began kicking the spoons into small piles. "They're spoons, just kick them into piles, pick them up and go put them back into the kitchen."

"But would you like to eat with those spoons?" Killua challenged, as he mirrored everyone else's actions in gathering the kitchen utensils into piles.

"Hey, I'm not cleaning these if that's what you're trying to say." Leorio said. "Besides, shouldn't Kurapika be the one washing them, since he threw all of them?" He wisely left out a taunt at the blonde for being like a housewife. Kurapika relented, deciding to be the mature one.

"I'll go wash it." Kurapika said, bending down and picking up an armful of kitchen utensils. "Aside from probably Gon and Adira, all of the others here are hopelessly incompetent at even the most simple tasks, and cannot be trusted with using the kitchen." A spoon was chucked at Kurapika's head, and Leorio watched with satisfaction as it slid slowly off.

A tick appeared on the calm blonde's head. Gon quickly stepped in front of Kurapika, while Killua thwacked Leorio on the back of the head. Adira stayed crouched on the ground, pushing the silverware into piles of neat silver.

"Let's not fight again." Gon said, pointing to the piles of spoons that Adira was still trying to gather together. "Aunt Mito-san always said it's good to get along."

"That, and we really need to clean up the spoons." Adira pointed out. "It wouldn't be good for your egos if one day you were just casually strolling around, and you accidentally slip or trip over a spoon."

"Now I have half a mind to just leave some spoons around the room to see who slips on it first." Killua said, a sly smirk on his face.

"That would also increase the chances of your ego falling down, or get bigger. Although honestly, I don't think your ego can get any bigger."

"Want to bet?"

"No."

"Spoilsport."

"Just playing it safe."

**~A~**

For the second time in the day, Adira found sharp blades being pointed at her neck.

"Halt, intruder!"

Her eye twitched violently. She had entered the front gates for crying out loud, if she was an intruder, she would've snuck in. She dropped her naginata to the ground in front of her, raising her hands in a 'surrender' position, although she was prepared to maul all of the men standing in front of her.

"I'm here to see Yan Baian." Adira said, letting her voice carry out through the district. "I mean no harm." She kicked her weapon forward a little bit more, allowing the men to take it. Most lowered their weapons, but kept a firm eye on her.

"She was one of the ones who were in the courtyard, correct?" The man in the front asked, twisting his head slightly to talk to the men in the back. "Yan Baian talked with them for a while, right?"

"Yes." Another man answered. "She was accompanied by two other boys if I'm not mistaken. One with white hair and another with green hair."

"So they must be hiding somewhere here to ambush us!" A voice cried from somewhere amidst the crowd. Mutters of agreement rang through the mass of people, as they once again began pointed their naginatas at Adira.

"So they're planning to ambush us after all!" One man snarled. "Keep an eye out for the other two."

"Oh for heaven's sake." Adira snarled, pushing away a couple of naginatas and their wielders that were getting dangerously close with her arm. "I just need to see Yan Baian!"

"Lies! Don't listen to her men, charge!" With that, they let out a furious roar, and Adira slipped into a standard fighting stance, prepared to defend herself.

"STOP!" A voice snapped, as a being landed in front of Adira, naginata in tow. "What are you fools doing, didn't I tell you earlier that they were honored guests?"

"Ah, w-we apologize deeply Master Yan." The man in the front stuttered, falling to a knee. "W-we thought she was a threat to the clan and-"

"Enough." Yan Baian demanded cooly, slamming the blunt end of his naginata against the ground, demanding silence. "I do not want to see this sort of behaviour again. She is here to study under me. You will show her and the two that were with her respect." The men bowed their heads, as Baian motioned for Adira to follow him. "I apologize for the disrespect of my men."

"It's fine." Adira said, picking up her naginata that one of the men had discarded onto the ground. "Thank you for being willing to train me." Yan Baian pushed open the large maple doors with intricate designs carved into it.

"No problem~" He grinned, swinging an arm over the much shorter girls shoulder as his serious look was replaced easily with a cheery face. "It'll be fun training a cute girl like you." Adira tried to slip out of his grip as he led her through the traditional japanese hallways, but to no avail.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours of turning around corners, nodding respectfully to others passing by, and passing what seemed to be an art gallery of paintings, the two finally reached a large wooden door.

"Welcome to my training dojo." Baian announced dramatically, pushing open the door to reveal a large dojo with various naginatas and armor propped along the walls. "Just for my personal use, this is the one used by the clan heads."

"Wow, this room is nice." Adira commented, tapping the walls. "The walls are pretty sturdy, and the floor seems quite strong as well."

"Only the best for the best right?" Yan Baian grinned, setting his naginata along the wall. Adira followed his actions. "Yosh, let's get started. Change into this." Baian tossed a uniform that looked very similar to his to Adira. "There's a changing room in the back, get dressed, and put your hair up into a ponytail similar to mine."

"Hai sensei!" Adira said, looking towards the room Baian had mentioned.

"Huh, at least you're a respectful one." Baian said, ruffling her hair despite Adira's loud protests. "Get to it. We have a lot of work to do whip you into shape in five days."

"Five?" Adira asked, already beginning to walk away.

"Killua told me you two were leaving to apply for the exams as soon as possible. Now stop lagging around, do first, ask later."

"Hai."

Yan Baian's loud laughter filled the empty room, as Adira stepped out of the backroom. Adira's face blushed pink, and she scowled, trying to readjust the fighting kimono to not hang loosely around her shoulders.

"Oh god, even the smallest male uniform is too big for you isn't it?" Baian laughed. "You do have something underneath that right? Because that isn't going to stay on. The shoulders of the clothing are too wide."

"Of course I do, there are these wonderful inventions called undershirts." Adira said, grasping the v-neck of the kimono and held it firmly closed.

"Then let's begin." Baian smirked. "We'll begin with conditioning. Down on the floor, two hundred sit ups and two hundred push ups."

If looks could kill, Baian would be lying on the ground, withering away into nothingness. But they didn't, and so Adira was left to mumble curses at the man while Baian sat on the sidelines, happily chugging down sake.

"195, 196, 197, 198, 199… 200." Baian counted, before Adira finally collapsed on the floor out of exhaustion. "Hey, get up, now's not the time to be slacking off, we're wasting daylight here!"

"Slave driver." Adira mumbled, standing up and readjusting her uniform again.

"Only when I have to be. Now, put these on your wrists and ankles." Baian tossed the girl four circular metal pieces that were attached to clasps. The girl stumbled a bit at the sudden weight.

"What the hell is this?" Adira asked, strapping them to her wrists. "Weights?"

"Of course Adira-chan~" Baian sang, tossing a wooden naginata to her. The girl caught it, although with great effort. "We are training after all. We're going to give you some muscles. Speed is great and all, but even the fastest of bugs can't bring down a bear."

"Are you insulting my height again?" Adira growled, moving around to try and adapt to the weight on her arms and legs.

"Only if you want me to." Baian joked. "Maybe your growth is just stunted?"

"Right, you drunken old man." Adira growled.

"Mah, I'm not that old." Baian said, also picking up a wooden naginata. "Follow my actions, we will begin working on katas. I will teach you the basics." Slipping into a stance, Adira followed, ignoring the pain that was beginning to seep in from her weights. This was going to be a long day…

"Again." Baian demanded, backing away from the sweat covered girl, giving her more room to use the naginata. "Go into the chudan guard. Watch your back hand in the grip, and make sure when you do the strike, lock your arms. Attack at the sokumen uchi." Adira let out a loud yell as she struck, instantly moving from the stance into a quick angled slash at the head, sweat dropping from her chin onto the floor. Her arms shook from the pain, the overuse, and just holding the naginata. _Just a little longer._ Adira thought to herself, panting heavily as Baian walked over to inspect her form. _The pain will go away soon. Just a little longer, hold out the naginata for a little while longer…_

The wooden naginata clattered to the floor, and Adira collapsed to her knees, muscles unable to take the strain.

"Ah, sorry." Adira apologized shakily, as she tried to stand back up. "I'm just tired, is all." Successfully rising to one leg, before that one gave out as well, sending the girl crashing to the ground.

"We're done for now." Baian announced, crouching down next to the girl, beginning to unclasp the weights. "You're exhausted, in pain, and it's near dinner."

"I can still keep go-" Baian shoved a bottle of water into Adira's face, causing the girl to stop talking.

"No, you can't. I know you want to get stronger fast, but there is a limit as to what you can do." Baian reasoned, helping the girl up to her feet as he supported her and began guiding her towards the benches that were lined against the walls. Setting her down on one of them, he put the bottled water next to her. "I'll have one of the servants bring in some food, and get you measured for a new uniform while they're at it. I have to go do some office work, we will continue after you have rested and recovered. Remember to put these weights back on when you are not as exhausted."

"Understood. Thank you sensei." Adira did her best 'bow' she could in her current state, as Baian ruffled her hair once again.

"You've been a good student, rest well."

"The uniform should be ready for you by tomorrow." Baian said, walking back into the training dojo. Adira sat against the wall, back straight and in a meditation position. "I see you're doing mokuso meditation I told you about."

"It's useful for nerves." Adira admitted, rolling her shoulders. "And I got bored while I was waiting for you."

"So you didn't do anything useful for training like push ups, or running through katas?" Baian asked, raising an eyebrow although he already knew the answer.

"You said yourself meditation was good for training purposes as well." Adira replied, looking up at the older man. "Besides, sore muscles. Collapsed of straining them, remember?"

"It's not like I was there or anything." Baian replied sarcastically. "No, not at all."

"Of course you weren't, silly shishou."

"If you're in good enough of a condition to joke around, get up." Baian tapped Adira's head with the blunt wooden weapon. "We need to get a move on. I'd like to have you spar with others tomorrow if you show enough progress. After all, having just 'by the textbook' knowledge won't be enough. Improvise, make the style your own, gain experience."

"Are you sure I'd be ready…?" Adira asked, unsure as she stood up and followed the blonde into the middle of the room.

"Probably. Most likely. Although you'll probably get hurt a lot."

"Your reassurance is so helpful." Adira sighed, mirroring Baian's stance as they began running through the first and second forms.

"I know - _watch your footwork, you're in the wrong stance_ - aren't I just the best teacher ever?"

"Well, probably not, but you'd still at least get best drunk teacher ever."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Baian grinned, as he and Adira simultaneously thrust together in the same direction, before doing another slice and whipping around on their back heel. "Alright, first form finished. Face me bow, rei, kiritsu. Second form, begin." The two once again launched into a flurry of moves, the wooden weapon bouncing harmlessly off of them as they repeatedly and forcefully brought the weapon across their body, but causing much damage to those on the non-existent opposing end.

"My god, it's almost 9." Adira panted, as she finally checked the clock after doing form after form. "I should probably be heading back."

"And where would that be?"

"My… room?" Adira said. "No, I'm clearly just going to go over the rainbow, kidnap a unicorn and bring it back to Earth as a pet."

"Stop being a smartass, it doesn't suit you." Baian scolded, hitting Adira softly with the blunt end of the blade. "You'll be staying here for the rest of the days you need to train with me. It's convenient, and it saves both you and I more time."

"You do realize that I'm going to get lost, right?"

"You were navigating our clan rooftops last time you were here, I'm fairly sure you can figure the layouts of our houses out."

"There's a difference between rooftops and hallways sensei." Adira said. "Oh you know, rooftops don't have various different rooms and hallways to get lost in."

"There are servants everywhere around the place for a reason. Ask them." Baian reasoned, taking both naginatas and leaning them back against the wall. "Go take a shower, and sleep. We're going to start at the crack of dawn tomorrow." They bowed at each other, each letting out a quiet but respectful 'thank you for the fight', before both heading their separate ways.

**~K~**

The days passed slowly, dragging on for what seemed like forever, and Killua was bored.

"Ne, only two more days Killua!" Gon hopped around excitedly, circling the white haired boy that was currently laying on his side in the middle of a flowery meadow. "Are you excited for the Hunters Exams?"

"Well, I'm more… tense than anything." Killua admitted, half heartedly sticking out an arm in an attempt to trip the boy. Gon lept over it easily. "I'm certain I'll pass it, it's just what's after it..."

"What does come after it?" Gon asked, tilting his head a bit as he stopped circling Killua and sat down next to him. "I mean, I'm going to go on a journey to look for my dad. But what do hunters really do anyway?" If Killua had the motivation to, he would've stared incredulously at Gon, but instead he settled with a sigh.

"Honestly Gon, you haven't even thought about what you might do in the future? Hunters are mainly special people who work underneath the king. The best of the best. You basically get to spend your whole life out in luxury and do whatever you want unless the king sends you on a mission."

"Mah, really?" Gon asked, twirling a blade of grass around his finger, sticking one into his mouth and letting it hang out of the corner. "Are there any special ranking

systems or anything?"

"There are hunters, and if you perform a good or heroic enough deed, or something of that sort, you will become a one star hunter. Two star hunter if you do even more amazing things, and three star if one of your students becomes a one star hunter. There isn't much of a system, although the three hunters held in most reverence are the Royal Guard." Killua explained, loosely summarizing everything.

"Ah, those are the personal guard of the king right?" Gon asked. "There's a new one too right? What was his name again..."

"I believe it was Mereum." Killua said, amused. "Honestly Gon, you're such a bad subject. You don't even know the name of your king."

"Hey! I'm not that bad of a subject!" Gon protested. "I know the names of the Royal Guard at least. Uh, was it - Neferpouf, Shaiayoupi, and Menthuthupitou?"

"Nefer_pitou_, Shaia_pouf_, and Menthuthu_youpi_ Gon."

"It's not my fault their names are so long and hard to remember!" Gon huffed, pouting as he crossed his arms stubbornly against his chest. "Why can't their names be shorter and simpler? Like… Gon."

"Using your own name for examples now, huh Gon?" Killua smirked, lightly hitting the green haired boy's shoulder. "I didn't know you were so vain."

"It's not, it's just the first thing I could think of." Gon replied, sticking out his tongue at Killua before quickly retracting it as he remembered Adira trying to pinch it. "That, and Mito-san." Killua rolled his eyes at that.

"Yup. Your precious Mito-san. Geez Gon, if I didn't know any better I'd say that you liked her."

"I do." Gon smiled, causing Killua to stare at him strangely. "She's my aunt, of course I like her."

"That's not what I meant." Killua sighed rolling his eyes at the boy's obliviousness. "Ah, whatever." A content silence fell over the two, as they sat side by side in the meadow, lazily watching the clouds float over their heads.

"Gon, do you want to do something interesting? All we've been doing is sitting around staring at clouds."

"But the clouds are nice~ See, there's a dog over there!"

"Gon." Killua deadpanned. "I swear if I have to spend another moment staring at clouds I will explode from boredom."

"Ma, then what do you suggest we do?" Gon asked, rocking back and forth on his seat.

"Well, there's always the arcade-"

"Mah, again?" Gon groaned slightly. "Killua last time we were there I had to drag you out of there because you were getting too competitive and wasting all of your money."

"I was not!" Killua protested good naturedly. "I just needed to show that game who was boss. And besides, I did get onto the leaderboard, so that was one achievement."

"Right." Gon laughed, not convinced.

"Well then, what do you suggest we do?" Killua shot back at the boy, nudging him with his elbow.

"Eh, I haven't seen Adira for a long time, want to go visit her?" Gon asked, returning the poke with his own elbow.

"It's only been three days Gon." Killua sighed. "And besides, I don't think the clan members would really want to see us back after the chaos we caused a few days ago."

"Well you were the one who was bored." Gon said, continuing to prod at Killua with his elbow. "Come on~ don't you want to see what she's doing? You guys are friends right?" Killua choked back a bitter laugh. _Friends? Don't make me laugh. Friends are… unattainable for someone like me. She's just a tool to reach my goal. And you… you are too._

"Yea sure, whatever." Killua said instead, hiding his discomfort with a blank face. "Geez Gon, if you wanted to see her that badly you could've just gone without me."

"I would've, but what fun is it going alone?" Gon asked, smiling brightly at the mercenary, and for once, Killua was at a loss for words. He turned away, letting his bangs fall over his eyes.

"Honestly… you're such a weird person… Gon."

"Thank you!" The boy chirped back, jumping up to his feet and extending a hand to Killua as well.

"That wasn't a compliment." Killua said, but took his hand anyway. Maybe… just maybe… he could allow himself to open up to him.

**/more line breaks**

"I yield." The man on the ground grumbled, tilting his neck away from the wooden naginata that was pointed at his neck.

"Stop! Winner of the fight, Adira. Bow to your opponent." Adira withdrew her fake wooden blade from the neck of the man on the floor and bowed deeply at the waist. The man stood up shakily, leaning onto his naginata for support, before mirroring the girl's actions.

"Thank you for the fight." They chorused monotonously, shaking hands. Then, they both spun around on their left heel, walking all the way to the edge of the ring, before turning once again and giving another bow.

"Next fight!" The referee bellowed, tapping at his clipboard. "Yakushiji Eima versus Adira-"

"Ah, I was actually hoping I could borrow Adira for a while." Baian interjected, smiling at everyone as he tipped his gourd of sake up to his mouth. "Just give Eima a by, and continue with the contest. Adira, follow me."

"Sensei, couldn't you have at least waited until the contest was over?" Adira grumbled, following the clan head out of the shared training dojo. "You know I could've won it too. Augh, I was looking forward to that prize and everything."

"Ah, get over it." Baian rolled his eyes, leading the girl through the hallways. "I mean, if you're fine with winning fingerless gloves over learning the secret 'renge' moves of the Tengun style, we can always go back."

"Ah, no sensei - did I mention you were the best sensei ever? You sure are having fabulous hair today. Did you gel it? It looks far more shiny and pretty than usual."

"Hmph." Baian sniffed, tilting his nose further up into the air in mock hurt. "Most men would be offended by having their hair called pretty. But yes, I am indeed fabulous and the best sensei ever."

"So the techniques...?" Adira asked, eyes glittering with hope, as she clasped her naginata and hands to her chest.

"Hai, hai, impatient little birdy." Baian said, tapping the ginger's head fondly. "You're so easily bribed."

"I thought you were planning on calling me a girly name like 'lotus'."

"I was, but then I realized you didn't deserve it." Baian stuck his tongue out at his pupil, stepping sideways to avoid the half hearted swipe. "Besides, it's not like you'd appreciate a nickname like Lotus."

"No, I wouldn't, but I have the right to be offended when you say I don't deserve something." Adira sniffed, mimicking Baian and tilting her own nose into the air. "You are the oldest-"

"You're forgetting who has the power to choose not to teach you the techniques."

"-the most wonderful person I've ever had the fortune to meet." Adira quickly corrected. "Have I mentioned that your uniform looks striking today?"

"I thought as much."

"Excuse me sir." A servant bowed to the referee who was inspecting the matches. "There are two boys here requesting the presence of Adira. I was told she would be competing in the monthly in house naginata competition."

"You missed her by a half hour or so little miss." The referee said, not taking his eyes of the match, watching the wooden naginatas clash again and again. "Master Baian took her to his private dojo, go take the two boys there."

"Understood." The servant bowed, before exiting the dojo. "Gon-san, Killua-san, Adira is currently with the clan head as of right now. Please follow me."

"Tch, where could she be now?" Killua sighed, as he and Gon followed the female attendant through the hallway. Gon stared in awe at the beautiful ink paintings, while Killua offhandedly looked at them, and silently thought that the ones in his house were much better. Father wasted no expense to have the best decorations after all.

"She should be with the master on the first door to your left down this hallway." The servant said, bowing deeply at the boy. "Please be careful when entering. They are training." Killua ignored the warning completely, and was already marching down the hallway, Gon however, followed behind more hesitantly.

Killua all but kicked open the door, only to have a naginata sail right past his ear and imbed itself in the wall behind him. The two boys stood there, shell shocked.

"Oh Jashin did I accidentally hit someone?" Adira's said, when she noticed that the door was open and that she had just accidentally let go of the naginata.

"No, you only nearly cleaved off my ear, that's all." Killua snapped, coming back to life. "Nothing too serious you know."

"Hi Adira!" Gon greeted, sticking his head into the doorway now that there weren't any signs of naginatas being chucked across the room at the duo.

"Ah, hi." Adira greeted, slightly relieved she had not accidentally beheaded some unfortunate servant that had been sent to replenish them with food. "What are you two doing in here…?"

"Killua was bored, so I suggested we come and visit you." Gon answered, as the two stepped into the dojo. "Wow, this place is big."

"Sure is, huh?" Baian asked, swinging his naginata down and Adira's head, causing the girl to reach down with frightening speed, grab an extra naginata that was lying on the floor and deflect.

"Hey, I thought we were practicing new moves, not trying to decapitate each other."

"Just checking to make sure if you were paying attention." Baian assured her, swinging again, this time at her legs. Adira hopped over them, landing lightly before blocking another blow that came angled down towards her shoulder.

"I thought we were done with sparring for today!" Adira protested, as she leapt back a few feet, trying to get out of the range of her master's extremely agile yet painful naginata.

"Ah, well you've got to prepare for the unexpected." Baian smiled, his eyes turning into little upside down Us as he continued to swing at the girl who was making no attempts at fighting back.

"You just wanted to embarrass me in front of people!" Adira accused, dodging another strike before giving one of her own, only to have it deflected.

"Ah, seems like I've been caught."

"Gon, Killua, help, he's trying to physically harm me."

"Turning to your friends won't help you Adira." Baian cackled. "Now be a good girl and stand still if you want to learn the last technique of 'renge'."

"I would if I wouldn't get brutally murdered."

"I'm sure he won't harm you Adira." Killua smirked, putting a hand in front of Gon to prevent him from helping the girl. "That much anyways." Adira used every bit of her strength to push Baian's weapon back, causing him to lose a bit of his balance. Taking advantage of his momentary lack of balance, she dashed away, sprinting to hide behind Gon.

"Coward." Killua said good naturedly, letting himself be knocked forward a bit as Adira hit him with the blunt end of her naginata.

"This is why Gon's my favorite." Adira said, still huddling behind said boy's back. "He's actually nice to me."

"Shallow." Killua grunted, only to have a naginata once again thrust into his back. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry for not becoming your human shield."

"As you should be." Adira sniffed. "Why didn't you guys come save me earlier, this guy is a monster when it comes to training."

"Only because it seems that's the only way to get you motivated dear." Baian snickered, setting the tip of his weapon against the ground.

"I'm motivated without you having to swing things at me! Just, having deadly, sharp, metal objects swinging at me is horrifying." Baian ignored her completely.

"Say, you guys want to help with her training? She's been getting a bit behind lately." He grinned widely, an evil look on his face. "I've been thinking about doing that obstacle course that Adira just loved..." A look of pure terror crossed the girl's face, and she latched onto the back of Gon's shirt.

"Sensei please I'll even scrub all of the dojo floors tonight I'm sorry for breathing your air or doing whatever offended you." The girl whimpered.

"I'm in." Killua smirked, looking to Gon. "What do you say Gon?"

"Ah, I dunno, maybe I'll partake in it instead." Gon smiled, feeling a tad bit sorry for the girl behind him.

"Excellent." Baian cackled, tossing his naginata to the side. "Servants! Fetch the materials. We're setting up obstacle course number thirty three in the outer courtyard!"

**/A bit later\**

Killua laughed loudly as he walked aside a battered Adira and Gon through the hallways back to the training dojo. The tips of Adira's hair and clothes were slightly burnt, while Gon simply looked like he had been dragged through the mud too many times, and then some bird had decided to make his hair their nest.

"That was absolutely priceless." The boy howled with laughter, ignoring Adira and Gon exchanging scheming looks. "Man, who knew they were so eccentric about training here? They had flamethrowers, rotating spikes, giant wind blades, pit holes..."

"Ne, Adira, do you know where the bathing rooms are? I'm in severe need of a shower." Gon said, sticking to the plan he and Adira had made in the span of time in which Killua was laughing at their misery.

"Ah, they're down here." Adira said, motioning for the boys to turn the opposite direction they were headed in. "And, Killua, shut up please." The boy simply stuck his tongue out at the girl, before following Adira down the hallway. As the rounded another corner, Gon and Adira exchanged glances. Soon…

"Is that it?" Gon asked, pointing to the two doors. "Is the men's side on the left or the right?"

"Can't you read Gon?" Killua joked, nudging the boy. "Obviously on the left. It even says male right above it."

"Ah, sorry, didn't see that." Gon laughed sheepishly. "Shall we go then?"

"I'm going to head back to my room to get a change of the uniform." Adira informed them. "If this one becomes overly damaged, Baian will make me wear one of the really big ones and laugh as I trip over everything."

"Well, see you then." Killua shrugged, rolling his shoulders and beginning to walk towards the men's room, not aware of what Adira and Gon were about to do. "We'll meet you back at the-" He was abruptly cut off, as Adira and Gon has both pushed as hard as they could to send the boy flying forward.

Except, not in a straight line.

No, Killua was heading for the bathing rooms… except he was shoved into the doorway of the wrong gender.

Screams of 'pervert' and various slaps could be heard as Gon and Adira laughed, before both dashing back down the hallways where they came from, not wanting to face an extremely ticked off Killua.

They were right in making that decision.

**~A~**

Training was harsh, brutal, yet fun at the same time. Baian was a harsh, unforgiving teacher, only stopping until she was at her very limit, no more, no less.

But it was nice.

Adira liked it, liked having a place like that. It was almost similar to what it was like when Ging was training her. Funny, because their personalities were as different as day and night. A drunk who was hopelessly dedicated to his school, and a wandering hunter who left his son at birth. She was blessed to have trained under both, she knew, and was thankful for it.

So when it came to an end, she was reluctant to leave.

"Why can't we stay a little longer?" Adira grunted, stuffing what few clothes she had into the shoulder sack she had been carrying around. "I mean, it shouldn't really take that long to get into the Hunters Exams since we already know where it's located."

"The sooner we get in, the sooner we can prepare and examine the other candidates." Killua reminded her, leaning against the doorway to Adira's temporary room in the Tengen district.

"Alright, alright." Adira sighed, scanning the room once again to make sure she had not forgotten anything. Seeing nothing, she picked up her naginata, making sure it was in prime condition before heading towards the doorway. "Are Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio not coming with us?"

"No. They said they were going to head to the path their boat captain told them about." Killua said, as the two turned and began walking down the hall. "Are you really going to wear that?"

"Hm?" Adira looked down at her uniform. "What? It's comfortable, easy to move in, and I'm personally fine with the way it looks."

"Man, if I didn't know any better, I would've thought that someone has a little crush on Baian here." Killua snickered. "Heck, you guys have the same clothes, same weapon, same hairstyle..." Adira would've sputtered if his reasons hadn't been so crappy.

"The reason he became my sensei is because we use the same weapon." Adira rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Killua was just messing with her. "The outfit is a uniform. Everyone in the tengen school has to wear it. And the hair is just easier to fight in anyway, it doesn't get in your way. So, idolize? Sure. Like? No. Thanks, but I'm not a gerontophile." Killua almost looked disappointed in her lack of reaction.

"Glad to know my student appreciates my awesomeness." A voice came behind them, causing both to look over their shoulders. Baian cut in between them, resting an arm on both of their shoulders. "Yo. See Killua, unlike you, Adira appreciates me. You were just a brat when you were younger."

"Are you still sore about what happened five years ago?" Killua asked, shaking off the man's arm and continued walking along with Adira. "You're just upset because I called a naginata a woman's weapon."

"Yes, I am." Baian replied, punching the younger boy's shoulder, causing him to stumble a few steps to the right and glower at him. "Only immature brats with no insight into the naginata would dare say something like that."

"Who's the immature one now?" Killua shot back. "You're the one keeping a five year long grudge, not me."

"Impudent brat."

"Immature old man."

"Killua." Adira began seriously. "You can't insult everyone that's older than you with 'old man'. That's hypocritical seeing you'd be their age in due time. Plus, you're the one with white hair."

"But you can't deny that's he's immature for holding a grudge like that." Killua said.

"Ah, well…" Adira wisely trailed off, although it might've also been the fact that a threatening grin had made it's way onto Baian's face.

"Anyway, that's not what I came here for." Baian grinned, clearing his throat as if he was about to say something important. "I'm here to wish you luck on the Hunters Exams."

"... that's it?" Killua asked, sighing as he shook his head at the man. "You're skipping out on the classes that you're supposed to be teaching to wish us luck in something we can do perfectly fine on our own in."

"See, brat." Baian scoffed, turning his attention to Adira. "Beat that bastard in the Hunters Exams alright? Get a higher score than him on everything. Don't you dare lose to a petty asshole like him, okay Adira?"

"Hai sensei." Adira sighed. "I don't suppose you also need me to magically fly you to the moon while I'm at it?"

"That would be nice, but the moon doesn't have sake. Ah, we're here already." Baian pouted. "Well, anyways, good luck. Hiyoshi should be showing up right about now…"

"BAIAN!" A male with dark black hair yelled, as he slid around the corner and nearly tackled Baian to the ground. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE TEACHING CLASS NOT LOUNGING AROUND! GET YOUR ASS TO WORK!"

"Mah, can't I even say goodbye?"

"NOT WHEN YOU HAVE CLASS TO TEACH!"

Adira snorted, and Killua merely rolled his eyes, motioning for the girl to follow him out the door. Giving one last wave to the clan head, Adira and Killua headed off to 'the Greasy Spoon'.


End file.
